Rewind
by Kiwichi
Summary: “ I wonder how Kakashi sensei was like when he was our age...” A freak accident occurs, throwing Sakura back in time, to when her sensei's only thirteen...AU KakaSaku Friendship Chapter 18 added!
1. Arrival Arc: Chapter 1

Rewind

Chapter 1

(2007/7/15 Re-written)

"_Uzumaki Naruto!" Said blond twelve year old boy gave a squawk as he fell off a stool he had been sitting on. The shriek had come from Team Seven's lone female teammate's room, Haruno Sakura. Naruto rubbed his pained bottom, eyeing the door that connected the two rooms together through his fox-like eyes warily. His teammate's temper was something not to be trifled with. _

_The third member of Team Seven, also known as their generation; Rookie Nine's prodigy, Uchiha Sasuke, gave a very unimpressed glance at the dobe of the team. His clan had once been great and feared, up until the next heir, Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother massacred the whole clan in one night, to test himself. Driven by years of hate and rage, the lone Uchiha isolated himself from everyone._

_The last and final member, Hatake Kakashi, Team Seven's chronically late sensei. Known as the feared Copy-Ninja, and Sharingan Kakashi, looks can be deceiving though, for he constantly has his face glued to the pages of Icha Icha Paradise, a porn novel written by an anonymous author who goes by the pen name 'J'. (But it is a somewhat widely known fact the author is actually Konoha's Toad Sannin, Jiraiya.)_

_Suddenly, the door burst open, and a very teary eyed half black and pink haired girl stormed in, already clad in her pajamas. The three male members of Team Seven raised their eyebrows rather comically, (Naruto raised his in absolute fear for his head.)_

"_I know it was you!" Haruno Sakura snarled, advancing on the poor prankster, who in turn, quickly scooted away from the enraged hormonal teenage girl. She grabbed Naruto by the scruff of his (blinding) orange jumpsuit, Sakura then nailed the blond head with a shaking fist, making the boy wail in pain, his eyes squinted shut as tears leaked out. "How dare you put dye in my shampoo!" _

_Shaking his head, Sasuke got up and headed out of the room, muttering something about, 'Childish idiots', and their sensei resumed reading his porn._

_After a few hours of Sakura-style beating, Kakashi decided Naruto had learned his lesson (he had promptly dropped to the ground unconscious the moment Sakura released him), and promptly offered to help Sakura dye her hair. (So she didn't look like a demented clown.) Of course, Kakashi didn't realize that this was his undoing. Gone were his nightly dose of Icha Icha before bedtime, for he had to deal with Sakura's hormonal whines of 'Sasuke-kun won't notice me anymore!'. _

_He defiantly made a mental note not do offer any __**seemingly innocent**__ help to any of his students from then on. (And dubbed 'Hormonal Sakura' as approach with caution.)_

_The next day, after Naruto had miraculously awoken from a pain-free night of sleep, Team Seven left the inn and headed back to Konoha. Their second escort mission (including their very first to Wave Country), has come to a close. _

_As the team stopped by a stream to rest, Naruto had shed his jumpsuit and pants to dive into the cool water. It was a warm summer afternoon, Sakura had been complaining about the weather, accumulated a total of six 'You're annoying' from Sasuke, and finally kept quiet. _

_The Uchiha had been lounging on a patch of grass near the stream, when Naruto had started their verbal war of 'You teme!' and Sasuke's 'Dobe' (and so on), Sakura had suddenly dropped to the grass beside Sasuke. Sasuke, however, thought it was another one of her ideas of 'getting close' to him, started to inch away, when he realized she seemed to be out of it. Irritated by the unusual silence from her, Sasuke demanded a simple, "What are you doing here?"_

_Completely ignoring Naruto's "Saaakura-chaaan!", Sakura motioned Sasuke and Naruto the lean closer. (And acting mature, instead of squealing happily, Sasuke noted relieved.)_

"_Have you ever wondered what Kakashi-sensei was like when he was our age?" _

_As if appalled, Sasuke quickly leaned away, shooting a quick glance to their teacher sitting on a rock with his nose stuffed in the novel still. _

"_**What**__?" He grunted, before adding, "Such a childish question." _

_Naruto grinned, "Never thought of it, Sakura-chan! But..won't that be kinda weird?" _

_Sakura nodded, "I saw a photo of a graduating class at the Academy, I think it was taken years ago. And I saw Kakashi-sensei…." _

_Raising a quaint black eyebrow, Sasuke muttered, "….And?" _

_Snorting, Naruto retorted, "I thought this was too childish for you, Sasuke-teme!" _

"_Shut up, dobe"_

_Shrugging, Sakura smiled, happy that Sasuke was actually paying attention to her for a change. "He was tiny!" _

_Bursting out in a loud chortle, Naruto toppled over, stray grass sticking onto his wet body. His head was suddenly hit from behind, and a shadow loomed over the three. Three heads looked up, Kakashi gave his famous eye-smile and spoke, "We're leaving!" (And ignoring Naruto's whines of 'That hurt, sensei!', ending up with a short lecture of always paying attention to your surroundings.)_

* * *

That had been two weeks ago, Sasuke thought as he eyed Sakura and Kakashi's spar. Beside him, Naruto was silent for a change, watching the fight intently. Both of them sat underneath a large oak, away from the sun's glare. Their round had ended with Sasuke unceremoniously flipping the blond to the ground, earning a mouth full of grass and dirt.

"Sakura-chan has improved, hasn't she?" The blond muttered, wiping away beads of perspiration from his brow. "It's not like she wasn't great before-" And ignored the 'you're kidding' glance from his rival, "But she was able to keep up with us during our morning jog!"

"Mm." Was the absent reply, obsidian orbs glued to the scene before them. Their sensei was holding back, like he usually did when he trained them. Kakashi had given them a laid-back, lazy impression from the first day they met, up until their first out-of-the-village mission to Wave Country, during the fight with Zabuza, that they realized how deadly their sensei was.

Sasuke watched Sakura brush away black tresses that fell into her eyesight, the black hair courtesy of Naruto, who had been careless and misplaced Sakura's shampoo with black dye on a mission. (Or so, that's what he had explained. But of course, Sakura didn't really believe him.)

"She knew a lot of different jutsu, too! There was even one that surprised Kaka-sensei!" Naruto ranted on, oblivious to the fact that his rival was only half listening.

_Kakashi had been staring at her differently after that day…._Sasuke pondered, before frowning. _I've noticed a few other jounin sensei glancing at her too…especially Kurenai and Asuma._

"-Is it just me, or has Kaka-sensei been giving Sakura-chan extra attention?"

"I've noticed that too." Sasuke cut in abruptly. "I applaud to your observing, perhaps you're useful after all."

"Gah! Shut up, chicken head!"

"…Chicken head?"

Ignoring the raging blond, Sasuke looked back to the incident…just a week ago….

* * *

_Sakura's voice blared over the mike, " I found the kitten, it's heading into the clan's district." _

" _Alright, Sakura, you go on and retrieve her. You're closest. Naruto, Sasuke, head back to the bridge. We'll meet up there."_

" _Got it, Kakashi-sensei!" _

" _The damned cat's a girl?!" _

" _Naruto, shut up!" _

" _Dobe." Sasuke muttered, dropping off the branch from a tree that had been his hideaway for the past twenty minutes, and headed back to their meeting spot._

_To Sasuke's chagrin, Naruto and Kakashi had arrived earlier than him, the latter leaning against the bridge, his porn book out._

_It was twenty minutes later, when Naruto asked the question that had been on their minds._

" _Don't you think Sakura-chan's taking a bit too long?" The blond mused out loud. _

_The sharp snap was heard, Kakashi had closed his book abruptly. " Let's go look for her." _

_The three took to the roofs, and leapt to the district. _

" _It shouldn't have taken Sakura a long time, it's only a ten minute walk from here, five from the roofs." Sasuke muttered, obsidian eyes darting left to right, scanning the older, abandoned part of the clans district, where the once great Uchiha and Hatake clan strived._

" _Hm," Kakashi grunted, and leapt from the roof, landing silently, and walked quietly into the compound. _

_Naruto and Sasuke quickly followed. _

_They found Sakura, lying on the ground, her dyed black hair reflecting the slowly setting sun, the kitten meowing beside her. Naruto darted forward, completely ignoring the sudden still man that was their sensei, and knelt beside his female friend._

" _Sakura-chan's unconscious!" _

" _We can see that, dobe," Sasuke said, scooping up the kitten into his arms, careful of not letting it get away; again. He glanced again at his sensei, wondering why the hell he was standing there, staring at Sakura like he had just seen her for the first time?_

_Sakura started to stir, emerald eyes slowly opening. Then she sat up abruptly, startling Naruto, making him fall over onto his ass._

_Sasuke never understood why Kakashi had emitted a soft gasp and Sakura looking absolutely grateful yet mortified at the same time._

_And the next thing that came out of his and her mouth._

"_Sachiko?"_

"_Kakashi?"_


	2. Arrival Arc: Chapter 2

Rewind

Ages for Chapter 2-

Team Seven- 13

Kakashi: 27

Edited on 2007/7/12

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Notes: Set after Chuunin Exams, before Sasuke runs off to Orochimaru.

A/N: Before all of you go, 'wth?'. I think an explanation is in order. The first and half of chapter two are written in the way that the events of 'Rewind' has already happened. For those of you first reading 'Rewind', you will be a bit confused, (and you're supposed to be confused). For those of you who have already read the original two chapters of chapter one and two, the difference in them won't affect the future chapters. Much. (I hope)

Chapter 2

Sakura waved to her three male teammates, who were being dragged away by a deprived of ramen Naruto to Ichiraku.

" Bye, Sakura-chaaaann!" Naruto's obnoxiously loud voice rang out, disturbing the villagers, making them scowl dangerously at the blond boy. She grinned slightly, and quickly disappearing into the streets.

Her feet unconsciously found their way to the older clan district, into a very familiar alley. Sakura was very sure that her teammates and sensei wanted a clear explanation from her, especially Kakashi. She just couldn't forget the look on her sensei's face when she woke up, in this same alley, after that mission.

Explaining everything would be confusing and hard, but the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade, who had taken up the role after the death of the Third, had made her swear to say nothing about the events that had taken place.

_It's for your own good and Konoha's. Enemies will no doubt want to use it for themselves, if the information is ever leaked out._

Sakura stopped, right in front of an empty space, where she was sure the shrine was supposed to be.

_It still hasn't appeared._

A small smile graced her features, as Sakura absently recalled that fateful day…

" I found the kitten, it's heading into the clans district!" Sakura spoke over the mike. She waited for an answer.

" Alright, Sakura, you go on and retrieve her. You're closest. Naruto, Sasuke, head back to the bridge. We'll meet up there."

" Got it, Kakashi-sensei!" She replied, and quickly leapt from the tree she had been perching on. Sakura winced when the next person spoke.

" The damned cat's a girl?!"

It was Naruto.

Quickly, Sakura grabbed the mike hanging from her ear and snarled into it, " Naruto, shut up!"

" Dobe." It was Sasuke's voice.

Sighing, Sakura quickly glanced up, fearing the kitten had heard, or seen her. The kitten didn't, as it padded into an alley. She switched off the mike, and silently followed it.

Walking into a dark deserted alley, Sakura couldn't help but shudder. As she neared the end of the alley, she stopped. The kitten was meowing, sitting beside an old looking shrine. A small, rusty pot was placed in front of it, and a piece of paper with odd looking characters scrawled over it was stuck to the roof of the tiny shrine.

Sakura approached the kitten, coaxing it softly, not noticing the shrine had started to emit a strange, soft blue glow. A kunai had started to materialize from thin air, and vibrated, making a hum.

The kitten hissed, startling Sakura, who had managed to get closer to the kitten, and looked up suddenly.

She didn't get to see anything more, for the blue glow had suddenly erupted, basking the entire alley.

Once the glow had slowly faded away, there was nothing there, no sign of a teenage girl, only the soft, frightened meows of a kitten.

Emerald orbs opened, Sakura found herself standing in front of an overly large, humongous cage. Stuck to the center of the cage bars was a tag with the kanji for 'seal' scrawled on it. The surrounding area was pitch black, Sakura had to make herself take deep breaths, for she seemed to be suspended in mid-air.

" Where is this place?" The kunoichi softly muttered, rubbing her upper arms, feeling very uncomfortable. The air here was stifling, and some kind of sensation lingered in the air.

" **Ah, so I've found myself a little girl."**

Sakura jumped, hearing the sudden voice. " Who goes there?!"

"**Little girl, I am Jikan! Guardian of Time!" **

**That sounded a bit cheesy, don't ya think? **Inner Sakura muttered.

" **Cheesy?" **The voice inquired, sounding put off, **"Shut your trap, little girl, or I'll whisk you to the age of dinosaurs!" **

_Just …shut..up…_

Sakura quickly recovered, having dropping her jaw in surprise when the voice knew what she had thought only moments before.

"**Little girl, I will send you to the past. I grant wishes to only those with the purest of heart."**

" The past?!" She panicked. "Why me? And what wish?"

**I want to marry Sasuke-kun! That's my wish!**

"**It is in my knowledge that you wish to know more about your sensei."**

"I was only…" Sakura muttered, before shaking her head, "That's not my most important wish!", shoving away her alter ego before she caused her some trouble.

Before she could ask anymore, the wind picked up, blowing around Sakura.

" Wait!"

" **Good luck. And don't tell anyone your name."**

_What…?_

A large stream of forest green chakra shot out from behind the bars, and slapped Sakura back, towards a gate that had suddenly appeared behind her.

" No!"

The last coherent thought Sakura had was; **who turned off the damned lights?**

* * *

Birds and crickets chirped. Children laughing in the distance. Sunlight glaring down at her face.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes, wondering what happened.

_Had it been a dream? It felt like one._

**Except for the slapping.**

She winced, touching the tender spot at her shoulder, where the green chakra had hit. The dream surly seemed real as it can get, Sakura looked around her surroundings, and realized both the kitten and shrine were no where to be seen.

_Damn! We have to find that blasted kitten all over again! _

**This is defiantly a dream, a very bad dream. No! A freaking nightmare! We had that kitten! It was right beside us!**

_Before we fell asleep of course. _Then suddenly, Sakura felt extremely nauseous, and kneeled over to heave, only to cough violently.

" Hey, are you alright?" Startled at the new voice, Sakura quickly looked up, only to find herself staring straight at a Naruto-look-a-like.

"…Naruto?"

The Naruto-look-a-like scowled, his black obsidian orbs widened behind a pair of bright orange goggles, " I'm not Naruto! Whoever the person is must be insane to name their kid after a kind of food." The boy puffed out his chest, " I'm Uchiha Obito! Soon to be the best ninja of all!"

Uchiha. Obito. _**Uchiha. **_

Wasn't the Uchiha supposed to have been massacred years ago?

**Gah! We're going insane! This is a dream!**

_Wait, what if that dream was real? _

**Then….we're in the-**

" Helloo! You spaced out there," The Uchiha boy was waving his hand in front of Sakura's face, snapping her out of her thoughts.

" What?" She snapped, clearly annoyed. This person was very like Naruto, even though his appearance was totally different from the former, his personality seemed very like Naruto.

The Uchiha looked impatient, " I asked you what's your name! You weren't listening! Just like the rest of them!" He ranted on, growing angrier by every second, his arms thrusting here and there, exaggerating his tirade.

" Wait," Sakura interrupted, only to have the teen continue on.

" – Just like that time when Auntie Mikoto kept on babying-"

" Shut **UP!" **Obito clammed up, and shrank away from the fuming kunoichi. " My name's Sa-"

**Noo! You can't tell him your real name!**

" –Chiko."

The two stared at each other for a moment, Obito scrutinizing the newcomer, and Sakura looking completely confused at the split of the moment name.

**Nice. Real nice.**

_I still need proof! This can't be the past. People don't go time-jumping for a reason ya know! _

" Um…Obito…?" Sakura meekly asked, catching the Uchiha off guard from the one-hundred eighty personality.

"What?" Came the half-guarded response.

Twitching slightly, she asked, " Who's the Hokage in office now?"

Obito blinked, Sakura blinked back. And then he burst into hysterical laughter. Sakura scowled, she really didn't like being laughed at, even if the question she asked was a bit…strange.

" Hahaha! You-heehee- just-hahe- asked who-(hic) is the Hokage now!" Obito chortled, tears of laughter seeping out from his eyes.

Sakura remained silent through Obito's insane laughter, occasionally catching the attention from the villagers from the other side of the alley.

With a finishing laugh, Obito sobered up, but a huge grin was still plastered over his face, " Sandaime."

"Excuse me?"

" I said the current Hokage now is Sandaime. The professor? The person who taught the Sannin? Ring any bells?"

**Told you so.**

_Crap._

An overwhelming sensation of uselessness and complete disbelieve washed over her, and the next thing Sakura did was most of the people who would do in her spot was…

She fainted.

" Hey, Sachiko-chan!" Obito prodded the unconscious girl on the ground, and scowled. " She fainted on me!"

On the way to the hospital, villagers who passed the duo, Obito carrying Sakura piggy-back style, could hear him grumbling, " She didn't look this heavy."


	3. Arrival Arc: Chapter 3

Title: Rewind

Summary: " I wonder how Kakashi-sensei was like when he was our age…" A freak accident occurs, throwing Sakura back in time, to when her sensei's only thirteen… (AU)

Notes: (Same in Chapter One)

**I need a BETA, this story is beta-'less'. **

PM me or email me.

I'd be happier if there's someone out there who could deal with my schedules.

(If you have MSN or YIM messenger, or both, do add it in your email/PM. It'd be easier for us to keep in touch)

* * *

Chapter 3

" You jerk!" Kakashi leaned backwards on his seat, caught off guard by the unexpected outburst. (Which was a bit exaggerated to him) After all, people rarely shouted vulgar things at him, much less it was from a patient in bed, who was supposed to be RESTING.

…. Wasn't that supposed to be Obito's job; to get insulted for the simplest of things?

" I'm no jerk," The silver haired teen retorted, scowling underneath his mask. " It's just a forehead,"

The girl in front of him scowled even more, if that was even possible.

" Just a forehead?! Imagine people poking fun at your forehead for half of your childhood! JUST?! You cold-hearted, gray haired-"

" Silver," Kakashi corrected, annoyed.

" –idiotic, no sense of reason, dunce!" With that, Sachiko huffed and dived under the bed-covers, ignoring Kakashi, who sat there half mortified, half seething. (But you could never tell with him; damn that mask.)

Seething for the girl insulting his intelligence (he betted his was higher than that girl); mortified for enduring this verbal abuse.

_She just insulted my intelligence!_

* * *

" -idiotic, no sense of reason, dunce!" A shriek rang out from room 227, Tsunade and Arashi stood near the room, out in the hallway, Obito and Rin had already headed back home.

The blond haired jounin chuckled, " Seems like Kakashi-kun's in for a verbal beating," Tsunade merely shook her head.

" Down to business, Arashi-san,"

" Ah,"

The two walked together down the hall, as Tsunade continued, " This is the fifth case about that shrine this half year,"

" Yes, only three of the missing people came back, their mental status wasn't exactly stable,"

" They were sent to the mental ward, Arashi-san,"

" …..Now that I didn't hear about,"

Tsunade willed herself not to roll her honey eyed orbs, but all at the same time, she was highly amused.

" She was lying," The Yellow Flash stated, staring ahead of them. Tsunade raised a blond eyebrow, " You mean the girl," A nod.

" How did you tell?"

Arashi looked at her, with a serious face, and for a split second, Tsunade thought he was about to become philosophical.

" Instinct" He continued on walking, while the Slug princess stopped in mid stride.

Guess she thought too early.

" Arashi-sensei? Tsunade-sama?" The two shinobi turned around, it was Kakashi, who looked extremely peeved. His left eye was twitching.

Arashi raised an eyebrow, " Aren't you supposed to be looking over Sachiko-chan?"

" She's asleep,"

The blond jounin nodded, " Did you find anything more about Sachiko-chan then?"

Kakashi stared at his sensei, before replying, " She seems to be a ninja, she caught a kunai single-handedly." He paused, " Didn't Obito notice her shrunken holster?"

" He didn't say anything about it,"

The silver haired teen grumbled under his breath while Arashi looked on with amusement. " Kakashi-kun, it's getting late," Said teen looked out the window, and noticed the sun was setting. " You head off home, I have some…matters to chat with Tsunade-hime,"

Nodding, Kakashi walked away, leaving Arashi and the Sannin alone again.

" Arashi-san, we should bring this matter to Sandaime-sama,"

" Hm, my thoughts exactly,"

* * *

Next morning...

She peeked out from under her eyelids, they were heavy as lead. Sakura thought she saw something freakishly yellow bobbing before her.

" Eeehhhh?"

" Ah! So you're awake, Sachiko-chan!"

_Who in the world…oh yeah._

Sakura sat up, rubbing her eyes, while the man, who introduced himself as Arashi from yesterday, stood at the end of her bed, looking insanely hyper. It was…

" Arashi-sensei? It's seven in the morning…"

" Hosh! The early bird catches the worm!"

_Hmm, why is this person so familiar? _

_Inner Sakura snorted, " You mean you don't remember yesterday's events?" _

_NO! I mean, he looks like…_

_Both Inner Sakura and Sakura suddenly gasped mentally, " It's the Yondaime!" _

They continued to stare down at each other (Sakura was still trying the grasp onto the idea that this man was the Fourth; judging by the stone face on the Hokage Mountain, Sakura pegged him to be the serious type), and then the door suddenly burst open.

" Arashi-sensei!"

Sakura twitched madly, while Arashi gave a sunshine grin at his student.

"Oh gods, it's freaking seven in the morning! Why are you people so freakishly hyper and bouncing up and down?!" Sakura wailed before pulling up the covers to hide her face. Obito and Arashi stood there staring at the white lump.

The Uchiha grinned widely, " If you must know, Team Arashi's are the earliest to get up everyday!" He puffed out his chest, with a smug look, or at least that's what Sakura thought it was. How could one be so proud of waking up the earliest?

" It's alright, Sachiko-chan, you'll get used to them," The girl from yesterday, Rin, entered the room with a warm smile.

Sulking, the black haired kunoichi nodded.

Noticing the lack of a grumpy silver haired ninja, Sakura spoke up, " Uh, where's Kakashi-se..Kun?"

Inner Sakura snickered while Sakura praised herself for catching her mistake in time.

" He said he needed to find something," Rin replied.

Arashi walked over to Sakura's side, with a concerned look on his face, " Are you feeling better today? You were a bit pale yesterday,"

" I'm better now, thanks," Sakura said. Arashi straightened himself up, nodding towards his female student, " Rin-chan, Sachiko-chan will probably need some new clothes," He glanced at Sakura with a knowing look, " You'll take her to the market after our jog,"

Startled, Sakura looked up at the future Hokage, " J-jog?"

The jounin nodded, " Yup, fifty laps around the village!" He paused, " Well, Sachiko-chan, you don't have push yourself too hard,"

" I think I'll manage.."

" Right, let's go!"

Suddenly Sakura regretted saying she was better.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi walked into the alley Obito had spoken about yesterday, the one that…Sachiko had walked out of. He remembered running around these alleys when he was younger, but Kakashi never recalled seeing a shrine. He stopped at the dead end; nothing was there.

_She could be delirious._

Maybe. Kakashi thought, as he turned around swiftly and took to the roofs, heading towards the training grounds.

* * *

" (Pant) Thirty (Pant) laps finished! (Loud wheeze)" The spiky haired Uchiha collapsed onto the ground, twitching and his wheezes becoming louder. Kakashi, who had finished his laps earlier than Obito, sat on the grass staring at the black lump that was Obito. After a taijutsu spar, Arashi had sent the four teens jogging around Konoha, like he had said this morning, much to Obito's horror.

" Pathetic," He muttered coldly. Obito heard this and jumped to his feet, still breathing deeply from the exercise, his obsidian orbs narrowing into slits behind his bright neon orange goggles.

" I'm not pathetic! You iceberg!"

The silver haired teen drawled in a lazy tone, " It's only thirty-laps, Obito-kun, can't stand the heat?"

Fuming, the Uchiha dead-last balled his fists as he glared hatefully at his rival. Before he could do anything about it, Arashi had lifted Obito up by his collar.

" Obito-kun, Kakashi-kun, what are you both doing?"

Sakura stumbled into view, from behind an equally sweaty Rin. They stood behind the blond jounin, who looked stern and was staring down at Obito, who was looking away and a scowl was evident on his face.

" We're doing nothin'!"

" Oh?" Arashi smirked slightly, dropping Obito, " Well, if that's the case, why don't you both do ten more laps?"

The Uchiha's eyes widened, as Kakashi merely raised a pale eyebrow.

" W-what! Arashi-sensei-"

" Get to it!" The would be Hokage sang cheerfully, as Obito and Kakashi got to their feet and headed out from the training grounds, hurling curses at each other along the way.

Sakura glanced at her female companion, " Are they always like this?" The dark brown haired girl laughed, " Most of the time,"

She never pegged Kakashi to the kind of guy who bullied anyone when he was younger. Then again, that wasn't considered bullying….well, to her.

Inner Sakura snorted, " More like verbal abuse,"

Indeed.

" Rin-chan, Sachiko-chan, you two can leave first," Arashi's voice pulled Sakura from her thoughts, the two girls nodded before turning back and heading to the village.

" So, Sachiko-chan, do you want to go buy supplies?" Rin asked softly, giving Sakura a warm smile, a smile that she was known for.

Shrugging, Sakura replied, while brushing dirt and grime from her red dress, " Sure, uh, I don't have any money…"

Rin waved a hand, " It's alright, I'll pay,"

" No, no, it's not alright,"

" Nah, it's ok,"

The two girls stood there, staring at each other before dissolving into giggles. They continued their trek.

Rin glanced at Sakura's dress, " Why do you wear something so uncomfortable?"

" Eh?" Looking down at herself, Sakura raised an eyebrow.

Could she answer, " I'm wearing this to impress someone!" Well, she'd be looked down at…criticized maybe?

" I don't know exactly,"

Inner Sakura cheered, " Cha! That's right!"

It was the truth. Sakura didn't know why she wore this dress anymore; she wore it because she thought she could impress Sasuke with it. After intense training sessions with Team Seven after the Chuunin Exams, she was starting to get annoyed, constantly tripping over in her dress. It was strange, from worrying over her looks, to cursing the dress she had got just to impress the stoic Uchiha. The crush was still there…but…

" Ah," Sakura decided to put that thought away, for now.

They arrived at the village plaza, Sakura could point out at least five or six things out of place; especially her favorite bakery…

_It isn't there! _Inner Sakura wailed, crawling into a corner. _What shall we do once we have those pastry cravings?!_

Sakura didn't know the answer to that one; she hoped the time never came when her cravings came…

" That's the one, Sachiko-chan, it's favored among ninjas; they have almost all the equipment one could need," Rin spoke, brushing a dark brown lock of hair away from her eyes.

Squinting at the shop sign, Sakura realized that she didn't recognize the shop.

_It could have closed before she was even born._

Wait. Before she was born?

_Kakashi-sensei's fourteen years older than me, he's thirteen here…that means._

**I'm not born yet.**

She stood glued to the ground, her right eye twitching.

_I'm not born yet!_

Still wandering around in her mind, Sakura vaguely found herself being pulled into the shop by Rin's firm grasp.

After a half an hour of shopping for weapons, Sakura and Rin was down the road again, towards Rin's home, which was near hers actually, when Sakura found out she recognized the streets. Glancing to the side, she saw a small clothing shop, and her emerald eyes stopped on an outfit.

" Rin-chan….eh…."

* * *

Obito sat on a small patch of grass, near the bridge where Team Arashi often grouped. He stared at the clear blue sky, pondering over what his rival had said this morning.

_Dead last. _

He was the dead last of the group of students he had graduated from the Academy a year ago. It was considered a shame to the Uchiha clan, his father found every chance to criticize his son.

Tears came to his eyes, Obito removed his goggles and hastily wiped away the salty tears.

_Crybaby ninja._

Obito sometimes wondered why he hasn't activated the Sharingan yet, could it be, because of his eyes?

_Eyes that are allergic to dust and almost anything…_

He glared at the goggles in his hands.

Or was it because he was a…

_Crybaby ninja._

Growling to himself, Obito hopped to his feet, heading back to the Uchiha compound, mentally bracing himself. No doubt his father would test him again, if he failed, then another string of verbal beating would follow.

* * *

Sakura found herself sitting in her new clothes, (A/N: Think time-skip outfit!) on a wooden chair, in Rin's house, in the kitchen. Rin's mother was sitting across from her, a warm smile on her delicate, yet worn by age features. The black haired genin then knew where Rin's warm smile came from.

" Welcome to our home, Sachiko-chan! I'm rather pleased to know my daughter has found…female friends…"

Rin, who was standing near the sink, blushed slightly in embarrassment.

" Mom…it's not my fault the teams are that way…"

Laughing slightly, Rin's mother spoke, " So, Sachiko-chan, are you here to visit some relatives?"

_Holly crap. _Sakura had forgotten about that. She nodded dumbly, while her mind was racing miles per seconds trying to think of a story to back that up. From the corner of her eye, she could see Rin eyeing her strangely; she was glad the chuunin was reserved, unlike a certain loud-mouthed blond boy she knew…

_Naruto._

Rin's voice spoke again, squashing any futile attempts to walk down the memory lane. " Mom, I'm gonna take Sachiko-chan to my room; we just bought some things for her,"

" Go on then,"

Rin grinned and took Sakura's hand, leading to the stairs, as her mother shooed them out of the kitchen.

" Can I really stay here?" Sakura found herself asking meekly, while Rin laughed.

" Of course!"

" Why?" The duo stopped walking, in the middle of the staircase.

Rin gave a knowing smile, " There's no reason for random acts of kindness,"

Sakura stood there, dumbfounded. Rin's kindness was soothing, and to an extent, somewhat unnerving. Never in her life, had she met such a kind person.

_It is her strength, and it can become her downfall._ A cold chilling voice suddenly entered her mind, sending shivers down her spine. (That rhymed.)

Leading Sakura to her room, Rin showed a spot on the clean ground to put her belongings. A quick scan of the room, Sakura saw a small shelf of books. Rin saw what Sakura was staring at, and smiled slightly, " That's my medical journals, some of them were my mother's,"

" Your mom's a medic-nin?"

" Yeah,"

Sakura tried to tear her eyes from the books, but she felt something pulling her towards the shelf.

" Are you interested?" Rin asked, amusement in her eyes; she must have seen the conflict of emotions in her eyes, Sakura thought.

" Uh…yeah…" The chuunin went over to the shelf and plucked a dusty, worn dark navy book off, and handed it to Sakura.

Medical Jutsu for Beginners

" I think that'll suit you just fine,"

On that sunny afternoon, an unexpected friendship formed.

* * *

A/N: That didn't come out the way I wanted it to. (Twitch) I swear, I even planned out this chapter…(The ending was a bit rushed too, so sorry cries)

Well, I was nearly out of ideas for this chapter, I don't know why exactly.

I suddenly had this sudden urge to kill off Obito at the bridge (Kakashi Gaiden) for the next chapter.

But that'll come, I assure you (Winks). For now, it's all about friendship, bonding, and that whatnot. The violence and war will come soon enough.

Thanks to Mini-moonstar for pointing out the problems with the plot. I'll try to work on it. My writings tend to wander away; even if I already wrote down the storyline. (Grumbles)

And thanks to all the people who reviewed! Cookies anyone?

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	4. Arrival Arc: Chapter 4

Title: Rewind

Summary: " I wonder how Kakashi-sensei was like when he was our age…" A freak accident occurs, throwing Sakura back in time, to when her sensei's only thirteen… (AU)

A/N: Thanks to everybody for the reviews :D FEAR me! For I have UPDATED! (cackles)

Warning: Due to the insane amount of sugar the authoress has inhaled, she will not be waking up any soon.

Thanks to Fire Valkyria for volunteering to beta. (Even though it's just mostly me asking you for ideas and suggestions.) xD

Disclaimer: See chapter two

* * *

Chapter 4 (OMG!)

" Obito-kun, I want to see how you've improved," Uchiha Yuudai spoke in a deep tone. Both father and son were standing in the training grounds of the Uchiha Manor. Obito's father's trademark Uchiha obsidian orbs glared down at the fidgeting chuunin. Goggle boy wanted the ground to swallow him up whole; he didn't want to get beaten into a dirty pulp by his father (again, his side's still hurting from two weeks prior.), and then get a verbal beating right after.

" Hai, tou-san,"

Both slid into a fighting stance, Obito quickly charged and threw a side kick at his father's side, who swiftly grabbed the foot and swung him aside. Obito twisted his body, so that he faced the dirty ground, used his hands to stand and kicked hard at his father's shoulder, using his free leg.

Yuudai grunted from the kick, but still threw the boy aside like a rag doll. Obito landed with thud, he quickly rolled away when his father's fist came crashing into the spot where he had been only seconds ago.

The two continued on, punching and kicking at each other, for next two hours, before the arrival of the clan leader stepped into the grounds.

" Ah, Yuudai-san, I see you're training your son," Obito, who had been unceremoniously thrown to the ground (again), rolled away and got to his feet before he would get another kick to his side. He glanced at the leader of the clan, and wondered idly why he was here.

" Fugaku-sama," The chuunin bowed rather shakily, due to the throbbing pain at his side, to the taller man, who only nodded back. Beside him, whose height reached Fugaku's thigh, stood the five-year old genius child; Uchiha Itachi. His raven black hair was silky and straight, unlike Obito's spiky porcupine hair-do, it was tied back in a small ponytail. Obito had heard, only five years old, the kid could already throw kunais that hits the bulls eye. A real genius indeed.

_Just like Kakashi-teme._

" Obito-nisan!" Said teen waved tiredly at the smaller kid, whose blank face turned into one of a child who had too much sugar to eat. (A/N: Ahem, let's welcome Chibi-Itachi-kun on sugar!)

" Yuudai-san," Obito's father nodded, " We have some matters to talk about," Fugaku glanced to Obito, " I would have dropped Itachi-kun off to play with Shisui-kun, but he seems to be busy. Obito-kun, I'll leave Itachi-kun in your care,"

Nodding numbly, Obito watched the kid suddenly appear by his side, latching onto his right thigh, as he stared helplessly at his father and the clan leader walk away. How could he say no to the clan leader?

" Obito-nisan, can we have ice cream?"

* * *

It was near mid-afternoon, Sakura and Rin were walking back to the clothes store, when the black haired genin found out they didn't buy…. undergarments. Rin had been talking about the first day Team Arashi formed, when they were genin.

" Obito-kun and Kakashi-kun already had this rivalry back in Academy, so when they were placed on the same team, Obito-kun threw a fit. When Arashi-sensei arrived, he had to pry them apart from beating up each other!"

Both girls cracked up, Rin reliving the memory in her mind, while Sakura struggled to form an image in her own.

" Obito-nisan! Can I have the chocolate one?" The girls turned to the small ice cream stand, upon hearing the Uchiha's name being called. There the spiky porcupine haired chuunin stood, the Uchiha crest on his jacket ever so big. Beside him, stood a younger Uchiha, his black hair tied in a ponytail.

" Alright, Itachi-kun,"

**_ITACHI??!?!?! _**Both Inner Sakura and Sakura screamed mentally in their mind.

The Uchiha Prodigy, the one who massacred the clan, an Akatsuki member, a S-Class criminal, was standing there! Holding an ice cream cone, with a smile!

_It's the Armageddon! _

Sakura stood there gaping at the kid, and had to shake herself out of her thoughts of rushing over there, strangling the kid before he could grow up and slaughter the Uchiha Clan.

And Obito just had to notice the two girls there.

" Hey! Rin-chan! Sachiko-chan!" The former grinned and waved while the latter waved weakly. Taking the chibified Itachi's hand, Obito headed over to them.

_KilltheweaselKilltheweaselKilltheweaselKillthewease!!!_

" Who's the squirt? He looks a bit familiar," Rin asked, while Sakura already knew the answer to it.

" That's Itachi-kun, hey, kid, say hi,"

" Hi,"

" How cute! He's the genius of the Uchiha Clan then! I've heard of him!" Rin gushed while pinching the poor kid's cheeks. She added as an afterthought, " But doesn't his name mean 'weasel'?"

Itachi stopped licking his chocolate ice cream to scowl, and Sakura was suddenly well aware of how intimidating, and how much he looked like when he was older.

" I'm NOT a weasel!" Sadly his high-pitched squeaky voice didn't make him look all that scary anymore.

Obito rolled his eyes while Rin gave a grin at the younger boy, who continued licking his ice cream. Sakura stood there still debating on whether she should murder the poor kid or not.

_I'd be saving the Uchiha Clan! _

The Uchiha chuunin sighed, looking at the sky, " I better take Itachi-kun back, and it's getting late." He glanced at his two female teammates, " Why are you out anyway?"

" Uh….to buy something," Sakura answered uncertainly, suddenly brought out of her murderous thoughts, while Rin looked as if she was on the verge to burst into laughter.

" Buy what?" Damn Obito and his curiosity!

Sakura grinned, " Girl things, unless you want to join us!" She wiggled her eyebrows comically, and mentally cheered when Obito's face went red, and dashed off, grabbing Itachi's hand.

" BYE!RIN-CHANANDSACHIKO-CHAN!SEEYATOMORROW!"

The two girls stared at the slowly disappearing Uchihas and grinned.

* * *

Kakashi sat on the branch of a high tree, overlooking Training Ground Ten. He had been there, after training for hours straight, staring at the orange and purple tinted sky. He heard laughing, and glanced to the small walkway beside the training grounds. It was Rin and Sachiko.

He studied the two, Sachiko was holding a bag of something, and the two seemed to be talking about something really funny (otherwise, why would they be laughing their heads off?).

Kakashi knew Rin had some affections for him, but he was never really interested in her. Sure she was kind, and that warm smile of hers.

But he just wasn't affected by that smile like the others, (for example; Obito and that senbon sucking fool, Genma). They called him cold fish, or A-sexual. And they even had the nerve to ask him if he swung the other way! (As if!)

Wrinkling his nose slightly, he shoved the memory from his mind.

_Damn idiots._

Kakashi decided to study Sachiko, the girl who had suddenly dropped from the sky from nowhere, (as Obito put it) a few days ago. He was…

Curious.

Curious about the girl, not that he'd admit it of course…But he remembered on the first day they met, in the hospital…

She had called him Kakashi-sensei. Now, Kakashi knew he had a near photographic memory, (and he was damned proud of it), but he had NEVER, ever seen this girl before.

Never.

And the sensei part? He hated brats, Kakashi knew he'll never become a sensei in the future, even though he had been a brat himself. But that's not what he was wondering about.

Why did the girl add the sensei part? Unless…someone was henge-ing as him, running around the academy teaching brats…

Nah. The others would have probably caught the idiot by then.

Sighing, Kakashi decided to drop the thought for tomorrow. It was getting late anyway, and the two girls were slowly disappearing from view. Standing up on the branch, Kakashi leapt away, towards the empty, abandoned Hatake compound…

* * *

(A/N: I was considering on ending the chapter here, but meh…)

Sakura woke up the next morning, feeling strangely giddy.

_How odd. Am I contracting that 'wake-up-in-the-morning-feeling-happy' disease from Team Arashi? I've only known them for a day!_

_Well, excluding Kakashi-sensei though…._

She sat up, and wondered on the fact that she didn't see the silver haired teen for most of the afternoon yesterday, after Kakashi and Obito had been sent off to run more laps by Arashi-sensei.

" Sachiko-chan! Rin-chan! Breakfast's ready!"

_Oh my god! Even the family's all giddy!  
_

Groaning, Sakura stumbled out of the bed and into the bathroom, while Rin sat there staring at her friend with a small smile.

In less than ten minutes, Sakura found herself being dragged away from Rin's home, towards the training grounds again. She wondered idly what Team Arashi did apart from training…training….and more training…

_Probably more training. _Inner Sakura said sagely.

Uh, yeah, duh?

Before they arrived to the grounds, however, the two girls heard a yell of, " THE BLOSSOMING YOUTH OF KONOHA!"

Sakura stopped, glued to the ground when she heard that…that…

Rin however, grinned slightly, " It's Gai-san, don't worry…He's just….extremely emotional about his youth thingy speeches."

" Oh." _I know that very well._

The two girls continued on, and saw Gai with his team. Facing a person with gray hair…or was it silver?

" KAKASHI-KUN! LET US DUEL! MY ETERNAL RIVAL!"

Alright, so it was Kakashi-kun…

_Eh? What happened to the sensei? _Inner Sakura asked, quite confused from the abrupt change. Sakura shoved her alter ego away.

_Not now! _

Kakashi, blinked blankly at the green spandex wearing bowl cut shinobi, striking his good guy pose, teeth sparkling all the while.

" Go away,"

" Kakashi-kun replies in his oh so-hip way!" The silver haired teen's face turned into a mortified one. (One couldn't tell much, considering half his face was masked.)

Meanwhile, Rin was fighting a loosing battle to keep her face straight, while Sakura was on the verge to throw up on the sidewalk. Asuma and Kurenai, both Sakura assumed to be on the same team as Gai (she wondered how both of them were able to cope with the green spandex shinobi), were trying not to look embarrassed. Kakashi's fist was twitching, not a good sign.

" Gai-san, let's just leave him alone, I'm sure Kakashi-kun has his own teammates to meet," Kurenai grumbled and dragged the bowl cut shinobi away, who was still rambling about 'spring time of youth'. Asuma followed suit, shaking his head. Just then, Obito appeared by Kakashi's side, and said something that must have set the stoic shinobi off, cause he bopped the Uchiha's head painfully the next second.

" Morning, Kakashi-kun, Obito-kun!" Rin and Sakura greeted, once they reached the two boys. Kakashi was scowling and Obito had a sheepish grin on his face.

Before anyone could say anymore, Kakashi grumbled and turned away, heading to the training grounds, " Let's get going…"

They blinked, before following him, Obito sniggered into the two girl's ears, " I bet Gai annoyed him to hell,"

Rin smiled while Sakura kept a straight face.

_They wouldn't know it was the other way around in the future…_

Haha, a bit more humor in this chapter…Gai and Itachi were added just for the fun of it:P Can you imagine Itachi actually eating ice cream though? (wonders)

Criticism is highly welcomed, and flames will be used to cook my bowl of ramen. (I HAVE 50 REVIEWS! dies)

….can someone please tell me why this story has more reviews than Thin Light? Mind you, I've given a lot of thought into that story! (And the idea's rotten-ing there cause I lost my notebook with my ideas!)

(Wanders away)


	5. Filler Chapter: Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A month has passed, since Sakura arrived in the past. Her life had changed dramatically after meeting Team Arashi, each member had changed something about the emerald eyed girl.

For Rin, with her seriousness in becoming the best medic nin, had made Sakura re-think about her own job. Before becoming a genin, Sakura remembered she used to care more about her looks to try and attract Sasuke, rather than concentrating on her studies. Sure she could memorize anything easily, her chakra control was superb. But what she lacked in was taijutsu, something she didn't concentrate on during Academy. (She'd rather read than get herself dirty at that time) Rin's mother's medical journals were also helpful to Sakura, and she was slowly considering on becoming a medical nin when she got back. (Well, she didn't know when though.)

But her taijutsu was saved by Obito, he was the best taijutsu user on Team Arashi, while Kakashi was better in ninjutsu and stealth. On most occasions, during training with the team, Obito would be paired off with Sakura by Arashi. They would train for a while, before switching partners. In a few weeks, Sakura found her stamina had increased, she could train longer before she collapsed, tired.

Then came Kakashi. He always seemed to suddenly pop up unexpectedly, suddenly speaking up and scaring the living shit out of everyone. (Well, most of them,) Arashi-sensei had told Sakura once that Kakashi was superb in stealth, while he was lean, lack of muscles for power punches in taijutsu, his speed made up for it. After a few cases of Sakura getting extremely pissed off at Kakashi for scaring her again, Sakura found herself at alert at all times, just in case Kakashi popped in. In a way, it was a different kind of training for Sakura...

Last, Arashi-sensei. It never occurred to Sakura that the future Fourth would be so…goofy. Aloof. But he was extremely serious when needed. Sometimes Sakura found the aloofness of Arashi to be quite similar to the future Kakashi. While Arashi spent the least time with Sakura, he still showed her quite a lot of jutsus for her to use. He had found out she was aligned with water, and gave her a scroll with a basic and low chuunin level water jutsus to learn.

In a way, Team Arashi reminded Sakura of her own, Team Seven. Kakashi would be the exact twin of Sasuke, Obito was loud and obnoxious (to an extent) like Naruto, although the Uchiha's stealth was better than the blond's, while Rin was somewhat similar to Sakura. (Except that Rin didn't get pretty violent when she was angry, unlike Sakura.)

And the future Kakashi would be so much like Arashi.

Their friendship with Sakura was a bit odd at times, Kakashi would suddenly become relaxed near Sakura, during training, where Kakashi would try and annoy the genin, making her lose terribly. (Kakashi had remarked that her temper was horrible. Blunt to the point.) Rin would always be the kind and helpful friend, and had told Sakura of their team's dynamics. Obito like her, while Rin liked Kakashi, and Kakashi thought both of them were useless. (Sakura had sweatdropped when she first heard this, it reminded her so much of her own team.) It was always a painful reminder to Sakura, who knew team seven would probably be searching for her, up and down in Konoha. Then again, how could a genin disappear on a D-ranked mission, tracking down a kitten no less. (Now that would make Konoha History, she could imagine it now on the Konoha Times headline; ' Genin disappeared on a D-Rank Mission')

Obito would always be there to cheer Sakura up, when she was down, and had broke the sad news to her that he hasn't activated the Sharingan yet.

It suddenly occurred to Sakura that Kakashi seemed to know that 'Sachiko' wasn't her real name, and was actually intent on finding out. Thus his new routine of popping up when Sakura was alone, demanding to know, and poofing away when Rin or somebody showed up.

A few weeks ago, Team Arashi saw less and less of their jounin sensei. They found out later that he was elected to become the next, Fourth Hokage, (they were spazzing when they found out).

Then the bad news came, one of their Leaf chuunins that were sent off for a mission near Rock, (along the border, not in their country), and had ran into a group of Rock jounins on their way back to Konoha. The Rock seemed to have a grudge on Konoha (for whatever reason, Sakura didn't know), and decided to attack the Leaf chuunins. One of the Leaf, was their jounin team leader, and he had killed a Rock shinobi by accident. (He was obviously protecting himself). But the Rock government would hear nothing of it.

And thus, the Rock declared war on Konoha. The Shinobi War had begun.

* * *

A/N: Before you all go and kill me for the short chapter, this is a filler chapter, incase you haven't noticed. It's short I know, but the war is going to start. I'm rushing the events a bit, considering I don't want you readers to wait anymore. School is becoming harder to bear, and I can't exactly get away with writing on my lap during classes. (In English I can, but a 45 minute lesson can get me nowhere.) Yes, I write on my lap. My writing is already scrawled, and I can't seem to read it clearly when I get back home. Good for me. 

Ah, and I've been hit by another plot bunny. Keep your eyes out for a fic called ' Fireworks'. Don't let the humor genre fool you though, it's going to be real angsty. Whoops.

And I just found out my Enter button squeaks.

Suggestions and criticism are highly appreciated! (Sorry to Fire, I can't log into YIM for some reason.)


	6. Kakashi Gaiden Arc: Chapter 6

1/10/07

A/N: OH GOD. RIN HAS REDDISH-BROWN HAIR! (slaps forehead)

Kakashi may seem a bit OCC in this chapter, but from what I've read in Kakashi Gaiden, he acts like that. So, before you start bombarding me with reviews that Kakashi's acting extremely stuck up, go read the Gaiden again. I'm using that as reference, so some parts may seem a bit familiar. (The dialogue too.)

Timeline: Mid February. (nods) Sakura's been in the past for four months. (She arrived on October 10. It has its own meaning in the later chapters)

1/19/07

A/N: YAY! EXAMS ARE OVER! Participated in my school's Karaoke tournament! Finished with Chapter 6!

Disclaimer: In case you haven't noticed, I don't own Naruto. Some of the dialogue (especially near the end of this chapter) may seem to be similar to the dialogue in the Gaiden. I'm using it as reference, and I'm a bit brain dead these days. (Nods) But I'll stay away from the manga, and stick to my own words in the next chapter.

**Parts of this chapter's dialogue are similar to the manga, it's all translated by me. **

Chapter 6

" Sachiko-chan," The Third began, his warm dark brown orbs staring at the black haired genin standing in his office. " Since the first day you arrived, we've been investigating on how you came here,"

The genin nodded to show she understood.

" Obito-kun said he found you at the shrine in the clans district, there were events in the past just like yours, people appearing suddenly around that shrine," He paused, " We think the shrine has something to do with your problem,"

" Oh?"

" The shrine appears to be a time traveling device, and it only appears when it's about to hurl someone into a different time period,"

The Third Hokage lifted his pipe and took a puff, " From Arashi's reports, I believe 'Sachiko' isn't your real name. I'm afraid if you don't reveal your name, we'll have a intruder in our village,"

Sachiko didn't say anything, although Sarutobi could see the conflicting emotions in those bright green orbs. Slowly, the girl reached into her weapons bag, and withdrew something wrapped in cloth.

--

_I'm not even born yet, and what am I supposed to say when I get back into my own time? If I do though…but…_

" It's….Sakura," She said slowly, unraveling the cloth and showed it to the Hokage. " All I can say is I'm a Leaf kunoichi, I have my own reasons…not to say anything,"

" Fair enough then," The Hokage sighed, before nodding to the girl. " You are dismissed,"

Bowing, Sakura turned to the door, pausing momentarily to ask, " Hokage-sama? Umm….is Team Arashi on a mission?"

Smiling slightly, Sarutobi nodded, " Border patrol,"

Nodding, Sakura left.

Sarutobi turned his chair to face the large, clear window of his office overlooking his beloved village.

_Interesting._

He would need to add the finishing touches to his plan. Orochimaru would not be pleased, Sarutobi thought, that he was going to hand the rank of Hokage to Arashi.

Sighing deeply, Sarutobi gave another long breath, _it is for the best. _

**For Konoha.**

Sakura shakily walked home, she had just told the Third Hokage her real name!

_But he's dead in our time,_ Inner Sakura pointed out. _And technically you didn't tell him your name, only your first name. There could be a whole lot other 'Sakura's in Konoha! _

_With emerald eyes and pink hair? Wait, he doesn't know that…_

With a big grin, Sakura quickly hurried back to Rin's house.

_Can I make it?_

_I'll be killed at this rate!_

Obito rushed through the forest, goggles strapped tightly around his head, adrenaline rushing through his body. Suddenly, his body lurched forward, his sandaled foot had snagged a root from a tree, and was sent hurling into a clearing. The Uchiha landed with a loud crash onto the grassy ground.

" Just on time?" Obito managed weakly from the ground. He peered up through his goggles and there stood the last Hatake, arms crossed over his chest, dark orbs piercing through him.

" No, you're late." Kakashi deadpanned. " What time did you think we were supposed to meet? At least stick to the rules and regulations, even if you're a sad excuse for a ninja!"

" Sheesh! Do you have a stick up your ass all the time?! I was helping out an old lady with her groceries!" Obito retorted, before lifting up his goggles to rub his eyes, " Damn, I got something in my eye,"

" That was defiantly a down right lie!"

" Kakashi, don't say that," Arashi-sensei cut in from his spot on a large tree stump. Sachiko sat beside him, with an amused look on her face. Rin was standing, a small warm smile on her features. Their sensei continued, " Obito must have helped the obaa-san out,"

Obito gave his eyedrops a slight squeeze, and a transparent drop dripped into his eye. " Yeah!"

" Sensei, don't be a pushover….There can't be trouble appearing before Obito every time!" Kakashi's gaze slowly fixed onto his sensei, eyes narrowed, " Those that don't follow the shinobi rules and regulations are known as trash, isn't that right?"

" Ah ha ha ha…." Arashi didn't know what to say actually, while Sachiko sat there with wide eyes, eyeing Kakashi as if she hadn't met him before.

" Stop harping about skills and crap! I bet your heart is made out of concrete!" Obito retorted back, while Rin walked between the two boys.

" Alright already, we're on the same team, so stop fighting,"

Kakashi rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, " You're too soft on Obito, Rin," Said girl didn't say anything. " Today's pretty important to me,"

" Y-yeah.." Rin muttered, brushing away a dark, bordering on black, brown lock away from her eyes. (A/N: How could I just assume Rin's hair color was BLACK!? The manga was black-white printed for heaven's sake!)

Obito looked a bit lost, " What's going on?"

" Kakashi's promoted to jounin," Sachiko piped up from behind Arashi, who was standing up, adjusting his pack.

" Eh?! Sachiko-chan? Why are you doing here?"

" Obito, haven't you been listening to Arashi-sensei yesterday? She's accompanying us!" Kakashi growled, getting fed up with the Uchiha's lack of wits.

" I have! It's just…" Shifty eyes. " Uhh…"

" Sachiko's here to balance our team, since from what our intelligence squad has notified us of, the enemy around Kannabi Bridge are mostly genjutsu users. Obito excels in taijutsu, Kakashi in stealth, Rin in the medical field, and Sachiko in genjutsu." Arashi explained before motioning the team to follow him.

" Let's go then!"

" Wait, Arashi-sensei! You haven't answered me…"

" And so, Kakashi will be assuming the roles of a jounin from now on, like me. For this mission, he'll be the team leader," Giving off his Naruto-ish like grin, he continued, " While I'll be working separately,"

" That means," Obito muttered.

" Kakashi will be leading you, Rin and Sachiko," Arashi concluded, raising an amused eyebrow at the scowl on the Uchiha's face.

" Obito, we've already told you before, and we need to give Kakashi a gift!" Rin cut in. She stood beside Sachiko, who tried to look interested in the conversation, but kept on glancing back at Kakashi's back. He glanced back, with the same bored, but sharp look.

Looking away, Obito grumbled softly, " Sorry, I wasn't listening."

" I'm giving you this!" Arashi announced, effectively dissolving the tension with his grin. " It's a specially made kunai, it's a bit heavy and irregularly shaped, but you'll get used to it,"

Kakashi accepted the kunai with a tag wrapped around the handle, " Thanks."

Rin had placed down her bag to look for her gift, " I'll give you this, here!" She handed over a small leather bag.

" It's a special modified medical bag for personal use, I've modified all the contents so it'll be easy to use."

" Thank you,"

--

Sakura stood there, at a loss at what to say.

_Jounin at age thirteen! Quite the feat!_

She fingered her present that sat in her pocket, quietly wondering if she should give it to him.

They were on friendly terms…(if nearly beating the crap out of you was considered 'friendly', during training) Sakura thought. Teammates? Yeah….Friends? Urmm…

" What the hell is that hand for!?" Obito's yell broke through her thoughts. She blinked, and stared at the sight before her.

Kakashi had his hand out at Obito, who was glaring at the hand as if it was some kind of infected disease.

" I have nothing to give you!" The Uchiha retorted, while Kakashi merely rolled his eyes. (It was still odd to see two eyes instead of one, Sakura thought.)

" Doesn't matter, you'd probably have nothing valuable to give me anyway, it'll be another burden,"

" I can't believe the likes of you would become a jounin! It's damned impossible!"

" I don't want to hear that from you."

Sakura blinked rapidly, _Kakashi-sensei's so different! So like Sasuke-kun…_

_Is that good or bad? _Inner Sakura asked.

_Dunno._

But this seemingly was weird, she was so accustomed to seeing the aloof, eternally late jounin, who would brush off insults, retorts easily, but standing in his place was an ice-cube, stuck up, and overly over-confident teen.

_What happened to the pervert who would harp on teamwork? But then again, this is the past…_

Obito stood there, his whole body shaking from repressed anger.

" I'm Uchiha Obito! From **the **Uchiha Clan! One day, I'll surpass you!," Glaring hotly at Kakashi, he added, " Once I awaken my Sharingan!"

_He hasn't awakened the eyes yet?_

" Isn't everyone in the Uchiha clan elite? They should all be pretty strong even if they don't rely on the Sharingan,"

" What did you say!"

Leaning to Rin, Sakura muttered softly to her, " How do you put up with them?"

They were even worse than Sasuke and Naruto! (That was saying something)

Rin stole a glance at Kakashi, who was looking unimpressed at Obito, the glance was noticed by Sakura.

" Um…"

" You two break it up, we're nearing the country boundary already. I'd like to give the mission briefing now." There goes the grin and Arashi-sensei had that emotionless façade on now. Sakura was grateful for him on breaking the tension, but…

_Hey, it's supposed to be my turn to give a present! _Inner Sakura roared, stamping on the imaginary ground in Sakura's mind.

_I'll give it to him after this mission._ Sakura reminded herself, warily noticing Kakashi shooting her a brief glance.

They stopped to rest on a large boulder, right underneath a tree, which blocked out most of the sunlight. The shade was welcoming to the team, after walking under the sun for hours straight.

A map was spread out in the middle of the circle the team had made on the rock, and Arashi was tapping on a thick black line on the map.

" All of you got that? This is the line that demarcates the frontline battling between Tsuchi No Kuni (Earth Country) and Kusagakure (Hidden Grass),"

" Of course, the ninjas are from IwaGakure (Hidden Stone), from our intelligence squad, we received information that there must be at least a thousand shinobi at the frontlines."

" We'll have to infiltrate even further into the frontlines, to Fire Country's border on Kusagakure's territory."

Rin cut in, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, " This shows how much they can push the demarcation, it means they probably have strong support behind them,"

Arashi continued, jabbing a finger on a bridge on the map, " We intend to drive back the enemy from the foremost demarcation, but in order to do that, we'll need a lot of shinobi."

" That's where we come in, we're the shinobi in charge of the sabotage. We can't go all out, so we'll have to be extremely careful in selecting our targets."

" So this means, our mission's purpose is infiltration?" Sakura concluded, while Arashi gave a sharp nod.

" That's right, Team Kakashi, this is your mission this time! You are to infiltrate into the rear area of the enemy camp. Destroy Kannabi Bridge- which is currently acting as their stock replenishment quarters. If we succeed, we'll be damaging their supplements severely, after that, you are to retreat immediately," He pointed at the boulder they were all squatting on. " This will be our checkpoint,"

" Yes sir!" The four ninjas chorused.

Obito glanced at his blond sensei, " What about you, Arashi-sensei?"

" I'm going to meet the enemy head on at the frontlines, this way I can divert their attention from you,"

Standing up, Arashi began to wrap up his mission briefing, " Kakashi is this team's leader for this mission, we'll be moving together until we reach the country boundary, then we'll split up to commence our missions,"

" Yessir!"

Excitement raced through Sakura's veins, back in Team Seven, they rarely had exciting missions like these. But then again, they weren't at war…

But something told Sakura, that something would go terribly wrong. The feeling kept nagging at her, and along the way to the border, she furiously fought off it.

FINISHED! (dances)

Reviews are highly appreciated, flames will be used to heat my pot of tea.


	7. Kakashi Gaiden Arc: Chapter 7

A/N: (Drools happily) My dad got me a new keyboard! The keys are so soft to push! (Laughs insanely) Now I can type in the morning without anyone knowing…

And thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm doing my best to spit out all these chapters! (Nearly deleted my files of the translated Kakashi Gaiden)

**Three months for me left before my High School Entrance Exams. Three months is NOT a lot. Believe me, I've been wondering why it's February on Saturday when I felt it was still December. Yes. _December._**

* * *

Chapter 7

Team Kakashi and Arashi trekked through a forest with humongous fungus and mushroom like plants stuck to the trees. They had decided to walk instead of leaping from tree to tree, since Obito slipped on a mushroom and crashed into a tree…

Kakashi silently lead the team, with Rin and Sakura behind him, Obito scowling behind the two girls, and Arashi at the rear. Ten minutes after they entered the forest, they were nearing a clearing, it was then Kakashi suddenly made the motion to stop. The two girls of the team stopped, and Obito who had been glaring at each fungus nearly walked into Rin.

' _Good one, Kakashi,' _Arashi praised mentally, watching his student glance from side to side.

The five kneeled down, and a few quiet moments, Kakashi pointed one finger at the ground. Arashi looked, and muttered, " One?" Even though he already knew the answer.

Kakashi nodded, and Arashi announced to his other three students, " Everyone be careful, there are at least twenty, but he's probably using a jutsu similar to Bunshin no jutsu."

" So it seems," Kakashi muttered, his teammates casting looks at him as he continued, " Sensei, I'm going in, please cover for me."

The blond jounin looked appalled, well…almost. Sakura could only guess from the twitch of his eye, " Don't be impulsive, Kakashi, you'd better stay behind as back up!"

" I'm the team leader this time, right? This is great timing…to try out this new jutsu I've been experimenting." With that, Kakashi made handseals, and cackling sounds filled the silent air.

Sakura's eyes widened, _it's the Chidori! _

' _Don't forget he's being such an ass!' _Inner Sakura piped up, ' _He's acting all stuck-up!' _

Her lips formed a tight line, her other two friends squatted next to her with wide, astounded eyes.

Arashi silently held up a hand, blocking Kakashi's path. Said teen's eyes regarded it with dark eyes, before speaking quietly, with a cold tone.

" Sensei, no matter how much enemies there are, this jutsu can wipe them out." He tilted his head, glancing at his sensei, " I'm the leader for today, that's what you just said, didn't you?"

Sakura suddenly swore that she heard Obito cursing Kakashi with vulgar words. (Along the lines of; " That arrogant prick!")

The formally pink haired girl mumbled a soft (yet squeaky to herself) " Kakashi?" And the teen merely regarded her a quick glance before speaking in that arrogant tone that reminded Sakura so much of Sasuke.

Now she knew why Naruto was constantly driven mad and on the rim of insanity. (Somewhere in the future, said boys were shouting at each other for being an idiot and losing the kitten.)

" The rules said that you absolutely obey your team leader, right?"

Arashi said nothing more, other than taking back his hand and sighing in exasperation. Kakashi lunged forward, his arm bright from the chakra, up rooting the grass and plants that happened to be in his path. (Of Doom?)

A kunai came whizzing through the air, aimed for Kakashi. Another one, flew right from behind him and deflected the kunai.

_Thanks sensei, now I can pinpoint his location._

Back at their area, Arashi had thrown a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it, at the direction where the enemy kunai had flown. The tag obliterated a large mushroom, and drove the enemy from his hiding spot, right into…

The sounds of electricity cackling filled the air, and Kakashi gutted the Iwa ninja. He poofed.

_Damnit! It's a shadow clone!_

He glanced from side to side, _no matter, I'll find the others._

Meanwhile, back with Arashi and the others…

_I can't believe the nerve of him! Actually rushing off like that! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TEAMWORK THAT HE ALWAYS HARPED ABOUT!? _Inner Sakura roared, stomping her foot with smoke whistling out of her ears.

_That's in the future. _Sakura retorted..

Sakura rubbed her temples, using all the senses to the point that it hurt a little, to look out for any traces of the enemy.

A rustle of sound and Obito gasping in surprise made her whirl around, only to see a shadow clone of the enemy poofing out of existence from Arashi's kunai. The Uchiha stood there trembling slightly, and only nodded with a meek ' Yes sir!' after their blond haired sensei reprehended him to be on his guard.

Sounds of the shadow clones dispelling filled the clearing, and just when Kakashi was down to only two more, he faltered slightly, feeling the strain from his new jutsu. Just before the Iwa ninja's kunai made contact with the silver haired teen, he was whisked away at the last moment by his own sensei, who used his infamous Hiraishin No Jutsu. At the last moment, Arashi stuck a seal to the Iwa ninja's sandal. They transported over to their team's spot behind a large fallen log that was brought down earlier by Kakashi's new jutsu.

" Kakashi-kun, you're hurt!" Rin exclaimed, immediately rushing over her crush's side. Obito continued to stand there, his eyes still wide and un-shed tears at the rims.

_Thump._

Sakura turned in time to see the blond jounin's pack hit the ground, the owner nowhere to be seen. She gaped. Beside her, Rin knelt by Kakashi's side, healing a slash on his shoulder.

" That's Arashi-sensei's Hiraishin No Jutsu,"

_Duh. Of course I know that…_

" Ku…" Kakashi muttered with his eyes squinted shut. Rin continued her flow of healing chakra, eyes closed in concentration.

" Kakashi's injury doesn't seem light. For now, we'll retreat from here and set up camp in a safe spot."

The four looked up, a bit surprised to see their sensei materialize so quickly. The silver haired teen opened his mouth to protest, " I'm good to go!"

" Nonsense!" Sakura retorted, poking Kakashi's shoulder for good measure, earning her a death glare. He still winced. " Look, you're wincing!"

" Good to go my foot!" The spiky haired Uchiha cut in, " This all happened cause you didn't listen to sensei's instructions!"

" Shut up, Uchiha. You," Kakashi glared sideways at Obito, who flinched slightly, " Were crying away with trembling knees just then!"

" I had something in my eye!"

" Ninja should never let emotions overcome oneself!"

" Wait, stop arguing!"

" CAN IT YOU TWO!" The three stopped in mid-argument to look at Sakura (Sachiko to them). Emerald eyes glared at the two boys, " YOU!" She lorded a finger at Obito, " Next time cry when we can't see you!"

Sakura whirled onto Kakashi, who stared at her indifferently, " AND YOU! You ass! You just charged off without Arashi-sensei's instructions! What happened to the-" She stopped in mid-rant, eyes wide and Sakura immediately fell silent.

" You were saying?" Kakashi drawled, standing up and rubbing his shoulder.

" Nothing," Sakura snapped, before looking away.

_If you continued like that, you'd mentioned about the 'teamwork' obsessed Kakashi-sensei in the future! _Inner Sakura exclaimed.

" Enough," Arashi spoke, his voice holding authority. " Kakashi, it's true that one must follow the rules and regulations. Though, those alone are not everything. There will come a time when you'd have to react according to the situation, not by the rules,"

" TOLD YA!" Obito rounded on Kakashi, who semi-glared half heartedly at him.

" Obito, you too. Nothing couldn't possibly get into your eyes, you have your goggles on. If you preach about self-control, but then don't practice it…"

The Uchiha's smugness was short-lived.

" One more thing Kakashi," Said teen looked at his sensei, " I'd advise you to not use that jutsu anymore."

" What-?"

" It seems to be a thrust-based attack, concentrating on one-point. It's true it increases its destructive power and speed, but it'll make you unable to perceive any counter-attacks."

" It's still incomplete," Arashi finished, before looking at his four students with stern eyes, " I'll say this one more time.."

" Teamwork is important than anything else for the shinobi!"

The three chuunin and genin (poor Sakura) looked away, saying nothing.

" Let's move out,"

* * *

It was night, Team Arashi's members, minus the leader himself, huddled together on the grassy ground next to the large boulder they had sat earlier that day.

Arashi stared silently at the starry sky, it was his turn to keep watch.

" Sensei?" He glanced behind him, it was Obito.

" Hm?"

The spiky haired boy crawled over to a spot next to his sensei, and mumbled, his eyes downcast, " I know teamwork is important…but Kakashi's always putting me down, calling me useless and treating me like an idiot so I just couldn't…"

He sighed, " I'm born in the Uchiha clan, known to be the elite, but I'm the odd one of the lot. I acknowledge Kakashi is really great, but it's his words that…"

" Nn.." The two fell silent, listening to the crickets chirping somewhere near their camp.

" Kakashi is the son of the widely feared White Fang of Konoha- Hatake Sakumo-san. The name 'The Three Legendary Sannin' didn't seem so great at that time."

" He grew up and spent most of his time next to the great genius, so looking at both of you, you can't hardly blame him for sometimes feeling that you two don't measure up."

" The White Fang, come to think of it, I kind of remember where I've heard that name before. Didn't they say he died in the line of work? But Kakashi never mentioned that before…"

Arashi sighed, " He was a great shinobi, who everyone in the village, and of course Kakashi, respected very much. At least…until that event…"

" That…event?" Obito muttered, unsure if he wanted to hear the rest of his sensei's unexpected explanation.

The blond didn't say anything for a moment, before softly speaking, " I don't think I should be discussing this so lightly with you, but since you're on the same team, I want you to know this,"

" What happened…?"

" Kakashi's father…he committed seppuku."

" What?!" Obito exclaimed, and quickly clamped a hand over his mouth, glancing if his teammates had woken from his unintentional outburst. The last thing he needed was Kakashi insulting him…

He'd probably have no witty comeback if that happened.

" Five years ago, he led a team and infiltrated into enemy territory during a top secret mission."

_Just like us. _Obito thought.

" Once there, he was forced to choose; the completion of the mission, or his comrade's lives. Of course, according to the rules of the village, aborting a mission halfway is strictly forbidden. But in order to save his comrade's lives, Kakashi's father aborted the mission halfway."

" The losses were enormous due to the sudden termination. The Fire Country, his friends and peers all placed the blame on him. And soon after, the comrades Kakashi's father risked to save turned around and back-stabbed him."

Obito's fists clenched slightly when Arashi paused to let the information sink in.

" After that mission, Kakashi's father's body and mental state fell into a bad state, so Sakumo-san eventually ended his life…Kakashi never talked about his father since, and started his obsession on harping about rules and regulations."

" …."

" Try to understand, Obito. Kakashi has no bad intentions behind his words."

The two sat there in silence, neither speaking up, listening to the nighttime sounds around them.

Unbeknownst to them, and facing Kakashi's sleeping façade, Sakura had heard everything.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this took so long! (My chapters are un-betaed now. Sorry Fire, I over-sleep on weekends now. Can't wake up early if my life depended on it)

I'd like to thank everyone who has supported this fic from the start. Even though most of this story has no originality to it, mostly basing on the events of 'Kakashi Gaiden'… Though, I want to let you all know, starting after the events of 'Kakashi Gaiden', this story will start to walk its own road. Although, there will be hints of KakaSaku from time to time, it's STILL a friendship fic. I know there are people out there who don't exactly like this couple, but they're reading nevertheless, so I'm content.

And the important news: My High School Entrance exams are at the end of May, that's only 100+ days left for me. That's not a lot. So, after this chapter, I'm putting all my stories on hiatus, until I receive my grades in early June that is. Long wait huh? And if I ever suddenly update, blame it on the guilty conscious and my spontaneous plot bunnies attacking me.

But don't get your hopes up that I'll be updating regularly if that ever happens. (Check my LJ; that's my homepage by the way, for any future notes on my personal life…if you want to know anything about it anyway!)

Reviews are highly appreciated and flames will be used to burn my pile of quiz papers! (Cackles)


	8. Kakashi Gaiden Arc: Chapter 8

A/N: Been busy downloading Naruto Manga, and Shippuuden Episodes…and studying…I added an entry on the KakaSaku community on livejournal, asking people to vote on three different plots on what to write after I'm finished with my two current works. (Fireworks and Rewind)

So! I'm currently typing on my laptop…(which is like the oldest computer in my house…) ….my shift button sucks..

I suppose this story will end around chapter 13-ish.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

Warnings:

Spoilers for Kakashi Gaiden

* * *

Chapter 8

" It's almost healed, but the wound will reopen if you force yourself too much," Rin spoke, rewrapping the bandages on Kakashi's shoulder. The silver haired teen nodded silently, muttering a soft, ' Ku…' when Rin finished tying.

Arashi nodded, glancing at Obito and Sachiko, both looking as if they didn't sleep well.

_I suppose Sachiko heard us last night then…_

After Kakashi had slipped on his shirt and strapped on his father's blade, their jounin team leader nodded, " Right then, let's go!"

It was around mid-morning when Arashi signaled for a halt, " From here on, we'll separate from here. The Iwa-ninja we met yesterday was by pure chance, from here on, it'll be team against team." Piercing blue orbs stared at each of the teens, " Be careful."

Uchiha Obito said nothing, except for silently turning and heading towards the opposite direction where Arashi was going to head. Tilting his head back, Obito softly muttered, " Hurry up and go, Team leader-san…"

Kakashi stared wide eyed at his rival, Rin gasped softly, while Arashi and Sachiko smiled slightly. Sachiko quickly glanced at the future Yondaime, who gave a knowing stare at the black haired girl. She quickly looked away, knowing Arashi knew she overheard his chat with Obito.

" Right," Kakashi motioned the other two girls to follow him. Together, the four headed off, swiftly disappearing behind the bamboo trees. Arashi stood there, staring them off, before disappearing.

Team Kakashi ran into traps, (one Obito nearly fell through and impaled himself on sharp pointy rocks), for the most part, they didn't run into any enemy nin. For now that is…

After a short rest, with Rin rechecking Kakashi's wound, Obito using his eyedrops, the team headed off again.

They were walking over a large pond when the enemy attacked.

Kakashi held his right hand up, forming a fist, signaling to stop.

The four stood there in silence, waiting…

Half a dozen or more shadowy figures shot towards them from the sky, Obito quickly formed the hand signs for the Uchiha clan's signature move-

" **Katon: Goukakyuu No Jutsu!" ** (Grand Fire Ball no jutsu)

The great fireball enveloped the shadowy figures, the spiky haired Uchiha silently cursed when he heard the sounds of bunshin dispelling.

A figure leapt out from the smoke, a shower of kunai flew at Kakashi and Obito. The former drew out the blade strapped on his back, and leapt off the water, deflecting the kunai shower.

" Rin!"

" KYAA!"

Landing on the water again, Kakashi and Obito turned around, only to find Sachiko furiously fending off another Iwa-ninja who had Rin slung over his shoulder, unconscious.

The Iwa-ninja grasped Sachiko's petite fist, and roughly pushed her back, making her land on the water with an 'oof!'.

The ninja who had attacked Kakashi head on appeared at his partner's side, smirking deviously.

" We'll be taking this one for now," The bulky one spoke.

" Ku…" Obito muttered, glaring at the enemy.

" Wait!" Kakashi exclaimed, only to be found shouting at a plum of smoke.

Almost immediately, Obito scrambled towards the direction they had been heading from. " Damnit!" Sachiko quickly leapt to her feet also.

" Wait, don't give chase!"

Sachiko and Obito turned around, with bewildered looks. What bothered Kakashi the most was Sachiko's- it turned from flabbergasted to a downright confusion to a look of…of…

* * *

" Wait, don't give chase!"

_/ What! Is he crazy! We should go save Rin!/_

_Indeed, what happened to the teamwork Kakashi would harp about! _

_/ The freaking know-it-all! He better have a good excuse!/_

Sakura looked away at Kakashi feeling disappointment, (how could he!?) instead, she glanced at Obito, knowing his feelings for Rin.

He didn't take it quite well.

" What did you say? What did you just say? Do you know what you just said!" the Uchiha exclaimed, stomping on the water to the dry ground Kakashi was standing on.

" I know what I just said," Kakashi stared head on at Obito. The two boys vaguely noticed Sakura silently approaching Obito from behind.

" The three of us will proceed with the mission!"

Obito said nothing, staring at Kakashi with wide eyes and an open mouth. Sakura had a similar expression, only her mouth wasn't as big.

" What…what about Rin? We can't just leave her behind!" Sakura exclaimed, not quite believing what was spouting out of her future sensei's mouth.

Kakashi glanced at Sakura before speaking, " We'll have to put her off for later. The good thing is, Rin is a medical nin. Even kept as a prisoner, she'll probably be treated with some courtesy. That is, if she offers to heal the injured."

" More importantly, if the enemy finds out about our strategy, our infiltration will become harder. They'll tighten the security around the bridge."

" That's assuming if Rin is kept alive! What if those guys just abducted her without thinking at all?" Obito exclaimed, waving his arms around.

" Saving Rin is more important than the mission now!"

Sakura silently added, " She's our team medic-nin, if any of us gets injured, we won't have anyone to heal us."

" We have you," Kakashi bluntly said, frowning slightly when Sakura snorted, " I can barely heal without depleting myself."

" …." Kakashi paused, " A shinobi will carry out a mission even if it means by sacrificing his teammates. That is the rule. If this mission fails, the war will be dragged out longer, and more sacrifices will be made."

" That's just an assumption! You'd give a friend who's been with you through thick and thin for an assumption?! Sachiko-chan's right, Rin's our team medic. If she wasn't here, both of us would have died a long time ago!"

The silver haired teen looked away, " She was doing her mission."

Sakura silently wished she could rip off the mask right now to see his emotions. In a flash, Obito suddenly snarled and punched Kakashi right in the face. He landed with a thud on the dirty ground, dirt clouds forming around him. Inner Sakura mentally cheered, but Sakura had other thoughts.

_Why is he saying this? His father…he really is the reason why Kakashi's like this…_

" I REALLY HATE YOU!"

" ….Whether you hate me or not, I'm the team leader, therefore you have to listen to my commands. In order not to let the team fall into chaos, one must make the final decision. That's why the rules state that the team has to listen to the team leader. Obito, you have no power, that's why I'm the team leader."

Obito's face contorted into a scowl, he gripped Kakashi's collar, who had gotten up, shaking him, " So why aren't you going to save Rin! You mean to say that you at least have the power to rescue a friend from danger, don't you!"

" If you allow emotions to take control, and cause the mission to fail, you'll be the one to regret it in the end. That's why the rules state that shinobi have to snuff out their emotions. You should understand this too."

" Rin….Rin was anxious about you, so she gave you a medic pack as a present. She even sewed an omamori (protection charm) into it!"

" Medical packs and jutsu were wonderful systems designed by Konoha..in order to increase the success rate of missions."

" You said so yesterday, that 'carrying something unnecessary is just another burden'!"

" …..The only that can help shinobi on their missions are tools. Emotions are unnecessary."

The Uchiha's hold on Kakashi's collar loosened, he stepped back slightly, eyes filled with unbelief.

" Did you really mean it?"

Kakashi remained silent, the image of his father's back appeared in his mind's eye.

" _He's the White Fang's son! That failure! He'll end up just like his father!"_

" Is that how you really feel about this!"

The scarecrow looked at Obito with sad, droopy eyes, before the eyes hardened, " Yes, that's how I really feel."

Obito stepped back, eyes filled with anger, " That's enough. We've been water and oil since the beginning, I'll go rescue Rin!" He turned around and stomped towards the direction the iwa ninja had taken their teammate. Sakura stood there not knowing who to follow.

_/But Rin!/_

_Yes, I can't leave her behind…._

" Obito, you don't understand anything, you don't know what happens to people who break the rules-"

With his back turned to Sakura and Kakashi, Obito neatly cut Kakashi off, " I've always thought White Fang was a great hero."

Kakashi's eyes widened.

" It's true that shinobi who don't follow the rules and regulations are trash. But you know what?" Obito tilted his head, glaring at Kakashi, who was speechless.

" People who don't cherish their comrades are even worse than trash!"

_That's…that's Kakashi-sensei's saying! _

_/He ripped that off from Obito!/_

…

Sakura stared sadly at Kakashi, who was stuck to the ground, eyes widened with disbelief.

" Since I'll be trash both ways, I'd rather break the rules! If that's not the way of the shinobi, then….then I'll be the one who smash that shinobi way into nothing!"

With that, Obito stalked off, head lowered. When the Uchiha was nearly out of earshot, Sakura decided to speak.

" I know someone…other than Obito…who holds their comrades close to their heart. He'd sacrifice himself just to preserve them in a mission." Sakura paused, before staring straight into Kakashi's dark orbs, as if accusing him of something.

" I'm following Obito," Sakura broke into a run, quickly following Obito's disappearing back, leaving Kakashi behind.

* * *

A large explosion rocked the battlegrounds, shouts filled the once silent air. Rocks and debris rained down on Squad 12, some using themselves as shields to shield the injured.

" How's the situation here?" The squad captain sighed in relief, it was Arashi.

" Finally you're here," He pointed at the direction of the explosion. " There's at least fifty ninja out there I'm afraid. Compared to them, we've only got four survivors on our side. Just a while more and we'll rush in for the final attack!"

Arashi silently laid out his specialized three pronged kunais, each with a tag wrapped around the handle.

The blond haired jounin stood atop of the dugout Squad 12 had dug, hands ready to form seals.

" Everybody! Fling these kunais at the enemy at once, I'll take care of everything after that!"

Another leaf nin muttered, " Ridiculous! There's no way he'll be able to manage them at once!"

Their squad captain growled back, " Shut up and do as you're told!"

" We'll be seeing Konoha's Golden Flash in action! It'll be instantaneous, in a blink you'll miss it.."

* * *

" Ku…" Kakashi muttered, landing on a tree branch. His left hand gripped his right shoulder tightly, it had started to throb harder.

Rin's face and words appeared in his mind…

" _It's not fully healed yet, so don't force yourself too much or the wound will reopen." _

Sachiko's snort.

" _I can barely heal without depleting myself."_

Obito's words…

"_Sachiko-chan's right, Rin's our team medic. If she wasn't here, both of us would have died a long time ago!"_

" _Saving Rin is more important than the mission!" _

Arashi-sensei's face…

" _It's true that rules and regulations are important…but that's not enough. Let me tell you, Kakashi, there will come a time when you must react to the situation, instead of the rules."_

Obito…

" _I really thought the White Fang was a great hero…"_

Sachiko…

" _I know someone…other than Obito…who holds their comrades close to their heart. He'd sacrifice himself just to preserve them in a mission."_

" **_It's true that people who don't follow the rules are trash."_**

" **_But those who don't cherish their comrades…are worse than trash!" _**

Kakashi silently knelt there, thinking…when his father's back formed in his mind's eye.

_Father…is this how you felt on that mission? _

_Am I really…destined to follow your footsteps?_

* * *

" Found them!" Obito muttered, Sakura landing silently beside him.

" I can see that."

The Uchiha rolled his eyes. The two were on a high, thick branch, facing a cave hole, where Obito said that Rin was held hostage there.

Obito readjusted his goggles on his head, nodding to his teammate, " Let's go!"

Sakura frowned, " Wait-"

" Let's go where?" The two turned around, Sakura's hand was already at her kunais, but she was too slow. The Iwa-ninja that had attacked them earlier stood behind them, who had suddenly materialized from thin air.

It was all too sudden, the Iwa nin had raised his kunai for the final blow when a flash of white cut through the Iwa-ninja, slashing his chest. The Iwa-ninja leapt to the nearest branch, away from the new comer and the two other Leaf nin.

" Kakashi!" Both Obito and Sakura exclaimed.

_/He came! He actually came!/_

_Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate!  
_

" You…why did you come?" Obito muttered, frantically blinking his eyes, trying to see if this was a dream, and he was already prancing around in heaven.

" I couldn't have let a crybaby ninja like you handle this all alone, could I?" Kakashi retorted, fingering his white chakra blade.

The Iwa Nin growled, " Silvery-white hair, gleaming white blade…you can't be…the White Fang of Konoha!"

Sakura glanced at Kakashi for any signs of emotions, but he remained silent.

/_Damned mask!/_

" This blade is a memento from my father,"

" …_..The only that can help shinobi on their missions are tools. Emotions are unnecessary."_

Obito's eyes widened, " Kakashi…you…"

The Iwa Ninja snorted, " I see, the child of White Fang. I see no reason to be afraid of you, little brat!" The ninja had started to fade away, hands forming a single seal.

" Ninpou: Meisai Gakure no jutsu!" (Ninja skill- Camouflage technique.) With that, he completely disappeared from view.

Kakashi sniffed the air, before muttering, " Just as I thought, he managed to hide his smell well. We only can try to determine the ninja from out of place movements in the air or sounds."

Obito nodded, " Right," Moments later, Sakura noticed something move in the air…

Right behind Obito.

_/OBITO! MOVE YOUR FREAKING ASS!/_

" Obito, move!" Just when Sakura was about to shout, Kakashi had beat her to the punch, and had already moved to block the slash meant to end Obito's life. He was seconds late to bring up his blade to block, and the enemy ninja's blade slashed through his left eye, blinding Kakashi forever.

" GAH! MY EYE!"

Sakura was by Kakashi's side, holding the teen up, Obito stood beside him, " Kakashi, oi! Kakashi, you alright?"

" Ku…yeah…"

_What's up with him and the 'ku's!?_

_/Don't you think it's cute?/_

_W-what_?

" The enemy's good, he threw away the blade with my blood on it." The silver haired teen muttered, holding his hand to his eye. Tears started to trickle from out of Obito's eyes.

Kakashi noticed this, " Don't tell me something got into your eyes, shinobi don't cry. I'm not dead yet."

The Uchiha raised his goggles to wipe his eyes with his sleeve, clenching his jaws, Arashi-sensei's words from earlier rang out his ears.

" _Nothing can get into your eyes with your goggles on. If you preach about self control, but then don't practice it." _

_I'm always talking without thinking. Always being helped by others. Just a brainless loser…_

_But…_

" Don't let your guard down!" Kakashi spoke, cutting through Obito's thoughts.

_I really thought the White Fang was a great hero._

_Those who don't cherish their comrades are even worse than trash!  
_

Obito rubbed his eyes one last time. Sakura and Kakashi were glancing around for any signs of the enemy.

_I don't want to be only talk…_

_For the words I said then…_

Obito slowly turned around, kunai in hand, eyes narrowed into a glare.

_DIE!_

He stood there, kunai embedded into the slowly appearing Iwa-nin, who muttered out with blood trickling out of his lips, " How….you shouldn't be able to see me…your eyes…"

The Iwa-ninja's eyes rolled back, and slid off the kunai onto the branch with a thud.

" I will…protect my friends here!"

* * *

A/N: 10 pages of Rewind goodness! Hope you all enjoy! The Kakashi Gaiden arc will come to a close next chapter, so hold onto your seats! I think I'm making Kakashi go 'kuu' too much...but hey, like Inner Sakura said, it's cute! XD 


	9. Kakashi Gaiden Arc: Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Kakashi Arc: Chapter 9

" Obito…your eyes…" Kakashi softly murmured, Sakura kneeling beside him in shock. Both were staring at Obito, who had stabbed the Iwa ninja by activating his clan's kekkei genkai. (Bloodline limit)

The spiky haired Uchiha was staring at his hands in awe, " This is…the Sharingan, I can see my chakra flow!" His excitement vanished the moment he heard Kakashi grunt out in pain, a hand going to grab his eye when Sakura latched onto his right hand. She whispered, " Don't, you'll infect it."

" You okay, Kakashi?" Obito asked, squatting beside his teammate and captain.

" I'm alright, though I think I can't use my left eye anymore." The silver haired teen spoke, getting out the medical pack Rin had gave him, and letting Sakura do the treatment.

After Sakura had finished with bandaging Kakashi's eye, the two stood, the silver haired teen saying, " Let's go save Rin,"

He never saw the startled look in Obito's eyes when he turned to face the cave.

The three teens stealthily entered the cave, after Obito had taken care of the Iwa nin's corpse. Reaching near the end of the cave, the three stood in a line, face tight with determination.

The Iwa ninja that had been interrogating Rin stood up, a mixture of annoyance and anger on his face.

" Fools, they're all so useless," He muttered, and Sakura chalked it up that he was talking about the other Iwa ninja Obito had killed.

Obito muttered softly, catching Kakashi and Sakura's attention, " Rin's chakra movement is very chaotic."

" They must have put a genjutsu on her, to maker her spill faster." Kakashi replied, getting into a battle stance.

The Iwa ninja chuckled, amused, " Looks like you brats aren't normal,"

Obito crouched lower, murmuring to Sakura, " Get to Rin, we'll take care of the Iwa!"

The black haired girl nodded, though Inner Sakura was howling, ' Why don't I get to be in the fun!?'

" We've exchanged blows with him before, Obito, he's fast. So... don't let your guard down."

" Got it!"

Kakashi and Obito charged, along with the Iwa ninja on the other side. Sakura quickly made her way over to Rin's side, sensing the Iwa ninja turning to attack her. He was blocked by Obito.

Dust flew up, the Iwa ninja looming over Obito, his blades strapped to his forearms out.

" Die!"

To the Iwa's surprise, the Uchiha's legs had come up to block both of his arms, stopping his attack. He noticed the blood red eyes, the black tomoe swirling, and cursed mentally.

Kakashi leapt up from behind Obito, his father's blade slashing into the Iwa's shoulder.

Sakura knelt beside Rin, hands forming a single seal, " Kai!" The dark brown haired girl blinked several times, taking in the scene before her. Her two other male teammates walked into her view from behind Sakura, who was smiling at her.

" Sachiko…Kakashi…Obito?"

The Uchiha grinned, despite both him and Kakashi sporting several bruises, " We're here to save you, Rin!"

" All we need to do is get out of here quickly," Kakashi cut in, nodding to his two other teammates.

A chuckle rang out in the cavern, the four turned to find the Iwa ninja standing at the entrance, clutching his shoulder and panting slightly.

" Both of you seem to be pretty good a tag team, eh? But kids will be kids…you lot are standing in dangerous territory, you know?" With a vicious smirk, the Iwa ninja furiously formed seals, before smashing the ground with his fist. " Doton- Iwayadoku Zushi!" (Earth element- Destruction of the Stone House)

The whole cavern started to rumble and shake, cracks formed at the ceilings.

" Run, head for the exit!" Kakashi shouted over the rumbling, Team Kakashi dashing to the entrance.

/ We don't need you to tell us that, Sherlock!/ Inner Sakura roared.

_Damn, I can't die here, if I die…what will happen to the future me?_

With new vigor, Sakura's pace sped up, dodging rocks along the way before she skid to a stop when she hear Kakashi grunting and a loud thump.

Obito and Rin stopped also, the Uchiha rushing to his captain's side.

Kakashi was clutching his left shoulder.

_He's hit at his blind spot!_

The rumbling grew louder, Sakura's emerald orbs darted to the ceiling, eyes widening. An overly large boulder had been rocked loose, and was heading to…

" KAKASHI! OBITO! ABOVE YOU!"

Before she had even finished, Obito had already noticed, and pushed Kakashi out of the way. Sounds of rock meeting the ground was near deafening, dust flying up and lingering in the air.

Kakashi, Rin and Sakura had been thrown away from where the silver haired teen had been only seconds before. His eyes slowly fluttered open, and quickly sat up, realizing that Obito had-

" H-hey, are you three alright?" He knew Obito was never the one for stuttering.

Uchiha Obito, sacrificed himself to push Kakashi out of the way, was now crushed under the large boulder.

" Obito!" Sakura was already by the Uchiha's side, Kakashi quickly joining her by trying to lift the boulder, with no avail.

" Don't," Obito tried, coughing up blood, " My right side of my body is crushed-I can't feel anything. This is it for me."

Rin covered her mouth with her hands, tears forming at the sides of her eyes. " Obito…"

The dying Uchiha gave a lopsided grin, or at least, one that looked lopsided, " Don't cry, Rin!"

" Haa….haa…" The silver haired teen breathed, before violently punching the ground, " Damnit!" His dark orb was squeezed shut.

" If only I had…listened to you from the start, none of this would have happened!"

The other three said nothing, the only sound in the tight space they were in was Kakashi's heavy breathing.

" So what if I'm captain! So what if I'm jounin? I can't even save my own comrades!"

" Kakashi…I remembered…I haven't given your present yet."

The three looked up, startled at the chuunin who had unofficially claimed that he wouldn't give one to Kakashi.

" Don't worry! It won't be a burden…in fact, I think it'll be very helpful. It's the least I can give…" Obito gave another smile, before coughing again, more blood spilling from his lips, causing Rin to suck in a shaking breath.

" Since I'll be giving you my Sharingan!"

Sakura's eyes widened, along with Rin and Kakashi's.

_So it was you…Obito…your Sharingan…and words that molded Kakashi into the way he is today._

" No matter what the other villagers say, I think you're a great ninja!" Obito continued, staring into Kakashi's dark depths, eyes betraying no lies.

_Your sacrifice…Obito…thank you…_

" This is a token of my feelings…please accept it." Obito turned his gaze over to his crush, speaking softly.

" Rin, I need you to use your Iryou (Medical) ninjutsu, to transfer the eye and the optical nerve… into Kakashi's left eye."

Rin nodded, rubbing away the unshed tears that had formed. " Kakashi, come over here, we need to start right away." Sakura scooted over to the side, saying nothing, tears sliding down her cheeks.

" I'm dying Kakashi. But I'll become your eye, and watch over you."

The silver haired teen lowered his head, before looking up, eyes filled with renewed determination.

" It was hard getting enemy information, but I guess it just couldn't be helped," The iwa ninja murmured, drinking from a cup, sitting on a rock.

A resounding, loud boom filled the air from behind him, causing him to look back. Kakashi emerged from the dust, face set in resolve.

" Jeeze, you kids are just stubborn! Still alive eh?" The Iwa ninja noticed tears had gathered at Kakashi's left eye, and smirked, " Still a kid, real shinobi don't show tears. I'll do you in real quickly, crybaby!"

Kakashi drew out his blade, hearing Obito speaking from the hole- " Take care of Rin and Sachiko, Kakashi!" He simply nodded, watching the enemy throw away the cup like a hawk, before swooping down, towards the ninja, whose blades strapped to his forearms were gleaming.

The scarecrow's blade axe-sliced through the air. The Iwa ninja, with precise accuracy, sliced through White-Fang's blade like it was putty. The destroyed blade fell from Kakashi's hands, only to form a single hand seal.

At that very moment, the sound of a thousand birds chirping filled the air.

" Sachiko…" Sakura, who had been staring at the sky, looked down at the dying Uchiha. His hand was held by Rin's.

" Yes?" She crawled forward, Obito's voice becoming quieter, and knelt near his head.

" Kakashi had always said that he didn't believe Sachiko was your name…"

A small shaky smile graced her lips, " Yeah…"

Obito grinned, blood slipping past his lips, " Would you mind…if you told me…your name then??"

Sakura shook her head.

_It's the least I can do…before he dies…_

She opened her mouth to speak, and stopped when they heard a gurgle. Rin and her own head snapped to where Kakashi had stood before. The head of the Iwa ninja was there. Rin drew a sharp breath, and Obito tightened his grasp, " It's alright, don't panic,"

The head wobbled, and was harshly pushed away. Kakashi's weary, tired face replaced it.

" Kakashi!" Rin exclaimed.

Obito gave a small smile, " You did it…"

He took a shaking breath, and spoke with his voice wavering at times, " Go, now. Take them with you Kakashi, the reinforcements are coming." Obito said, slapping Rin's hand away when she tried to grasp it again.

" Obito…" Obito shook his head, at the same time, Kakashi had held out his hand for Rin to take. A mixture of regret, anguish and different unreadable emotions swirled in his eyes.

" Go!"

Rin reached out and grasped onto Kakashi's hand, who in turn pulled her out. At that very moment, an unfamiliar voice shouted, Kakashi's face twisted into one of shocked.

" Doton-Retsudo Tenshou!" (Earth Element: Changing Palms of shattered Earth)

Kakashi turned to Sakura, who was whispering softly to Obito.

" Sakura..Haruno Sakura…"

Obito smiled, " Cherry blossom…"

Sakura turned and latched onto Kakashi's hand, and looked back at Obito's form under the boulder sadly, feeling herself being pulled up.

_Goodbye…_

" OBITO!" Rin shouted, as she watched the rocks around the Uchiha started to shake and smashing closer.

Obito closed his eyes, feeling everything starting to swirl into blackness, his body going numb.

_Just when I'm getting along with Kakashi…and I never got the chance to confess my feelings for Rin…_

_Sachiko…no…Sakura…I'm glad I met you…girl who fell from the sky…_

_I'm glad that I met you all._

_I just wished…I could have stayed longer…with everybody….else…._

* * *

Kakashi placed Rin down on the branch, Sakura landing beside him panting hard. The three turned to the flattened area where Obito lay underneath tons of rocks. 

Rin gasped, and Kakashi turned to the ground, where more than a dozen Iwa shinobi stood.

They were surrounded.

" Damn," Sakura cursed, softly, reaching for her kunai, only to stop to watch Kakashi wordlessly forming handseals….

' Obito.. this is the jutsu…that you perfected!'

Ox…hare…dog…

_They're familiar…it's-_

Sounds of a thousand birds chirping filled the air.

**_Bachibachibachibachibachibachibachibachi…._**

One of the Iwa shinobi below them emotionlessly spoke, his dark hazel eyes fixed on the silver haired teen, " Impressive, to still have the will to fight in a situation like this. I guess that's to be from someone who's able to infiltrate into enemy territory quietly. Your spirit is strong!"

Kakashi ignored the words, handing the three pronged kunai Arashi had gave him before as his promotion present, over to Rin.

" I'll hold them off…Rin…Sachiko…use that chance to escape!"

Sakura snarled, eyes flashing dangerously, " You can't be kidding, we won't leave you behind!" Rin nodded beside her.

" I'm going to protect both of you with my life...because Obito told me to," Kakashi spoke, staring at the enemy shinobi, his right hand cackling loudly.

" Kakashi!"

" Rin! Obito…he always liked you…cherished you…"

Rin stepped forward, tears from earlier springing forward again, " But, what about my feelings for you-"

Kakashi neatly cut the dark brown haired girl off, in a soft voice, " I'm just a worthless piece of trash….who once left you in the lurch." Rin halted, reeling back slightly at Kakashi's confession.

Sakura's grip on her kunai tightened, remembering how he had acted before in the forest. But she heard the regret, and disappointment in his voice…

_Kakashi-sensei…_

All of the sudden, the Iwa shinobi were dropping towards them from the sky. Kakashi clenched his teeth and shouted, " Now!"

It was as if time had stopped, he could only hear the sound of his new jutsu cackling, the enemy shinobi looming ever closer.

Everything suddenly went black.

His last coherent thought was…

_Am I dead?_

* * *

_Where am I? _

Kakashi slowly opened his eyes, at the night sky, and the stars blinking back at him.

" Ah, Kakashi, you've finally woken!" He sat up abruptly, ignoring his muscles screaming out in protest from the ache.

" Sensei! Wh-why are you doing here?"

Arashi smiled, holding up a three pronged kunai, " This kunai I gave you, it's basic purpose is to act as an mark for me to warp to, when I'm flitting through dimensions."

The silver haired teen tilted his head slightly, " Then all the enemies…"

" I've taken care of them," Kakashi seemed to be content with the answer. Then mere seconds later, he panicked, " Where's Sachiko? And Rin?"

The blond haired jounin smiled, somewhat sadly, nodding to the body, curled up sleeping beside him, " Sachiko fell asleep sometime after we arrived here. And Rin…" He stared out at the grassy patch around them, falling silent. There was the dark brown haired medic, standing alone, staring at the night sky.

" I'm sorry that I arrived too late, Kakashi. They told me…what happened before."

Kakashi remained silent, lowering his eyes to the large boulder they were on.

* * *

The next day, Team Kakashi and Arashi set off to the Kannabi Bridge. Along the short trip, everyone remained silent, even though they were supposed to, after all this was an infiltration mission. 

But …

They really, really missed Obito's loudness right then. Kakashi silently hoped the Uchiha would pop out of the woods, laughing at them for falling for his prank, and then getting into another verbal argument with him.

" We're nearing the bridge." Arashi announced, breaking the silent, anguished aura around the group.

Rin silently wished Obito was still alive, so she could make up for the past, since she almost always ignored him in favor for Kakashi…

" Hm." Kakashi mumbled softly, motioning Sachiko and Rin to follow him.

Sakura silently longed for Obito to joke with, and bringing back memories of Naruto every time they talked. It made her heart clench painfully, knowing the similarities between the Uchiha and the Uzumaki was unnerving, and she could almost see it was Naruto instead of Obito under that boulder, grinning crookedly at her, telling her not to cry.

They slowly neared the bridge, seeing a large number of tents on the other side.

" This is it, Kannabi Bridge. Remember your objective?" Arashi asked, continuing the small ritual they would do every time Team Arashi was nearing their mission objective. And at this point, Obito would loudly exclaim, " YOSH!", with Kakashi hitting his head to make him shut up.

It slowly tore their hearts to know, that Obito would always be there to remind them…in every insignificant thing they would do.

The other three remained silent, while Arashi muttered, " Damned habits…"

" Set up explosives along the sides of the bridge, leave two to three exploding tags in your pack. Don't let the enemy see you," Kakashi said, cleanly ignoring what his sensei had said before, and glancing behind him, at his two other remaining teammates, " Let's go,"

" Damn! Where did Squad twelve and thirteen disappear off to?" A large bulky, muscled Iwa ninja snarled, shaking his fist, and grinding teeth against teeth in his mouth in frustration.

Another ninja, though scrawny and little, standing beside the larger man, spoke, " I received news that the Golden Flash apparently decimated Squad Twelve and Thirteen."

" That Konoha scum!" The scrawny chuunin jumped a little.

It was all of a sudden, loud, resounding blasts and booms filled the air. It took a few seconds for the two Iwa ninja to recover, and realization dawned to the bulky Iwa nin.

" The bridge!"

The two scrambled out of their little tent, the larger one snarled in anger, and the scrawny one stood there agape. The bridge that was their only way of getting their supplies was destroyed, four figures stood on the other side, and in the gleaming sunlight, he could see the tallest one was blond.

" BASTARDS!"

Rin, Sakura and Arashi stood at the rim of the destroyed bridge, watching Kakashi standing on a large chunk of debris below them.

Sakura watched, mildly finding the way his hair gleamed silvery and white underneath the sun amusing, though her heart sang a different tune; anguished. Every time she would look or talk with one of the members of Team Kakashi and Arashi, Obito would always be there, haunting the corners of her eye and mind.

She watched. They watched. He watched.

He looked up, and locked eyes with her own emerald eyes.

Her breath suddenly hitched, watching the eyes that were filled with so much emotions, one dark gray, and one red.

And in an instant, she could almost see Obito standing next to Kakashi, waving at them, his grin never wavering.

She could almost see Obito's orange goggles over Kakashi's haunted eyes.

Sakura blamed it on the sunlight.

* * *

A/N: Kakashi Gaiden arc over! Yes! (cheers) Another spontaneous update, sadly. I've been holed up at school for who knows how long…though I come online every Friday to download Naruto Shippuuden Episodes. 

Next chapter will be the start of the Aftermath Arc: Sakura. (who knows when that'll come up? It'll come in the order of Aftermath Arc: Sakura, Kakashi, and Yondaime.

For those of you who wanted Obito alive, I stick with the cannon with the sole reason of; he is the one who changed and molded Kakashi into the way he is today. Even if he stayed alive, there'll be no Sharingan Kakashi or Copy Ninja today. Though, I do have different plans in the sequel. Who knows? xP All I know is, it won't disappoint the readers.

I hope I can hit 200 reviews soon.


	10. Aftermath Arc Sakura: Chapter 10

Warnings: Language

Disclaimer: Don't Own Naruto

Aftermath Arc: Sakura

* * *

Chapter 10

_There wasn't an Uchiha Obito to pick verbal fights on with Kakashi anymore._

_There wasn't an Uchiha Obito to blush and compliment Rin anymore._

_There wasn't an Uchiha Obito to joke and laugh with Sakura anymore._

_There wasn't an Uchiha Obito to complain about the lack of rests during missions with Arashi anymore._

On a peaceful afternoon, Team Kakashi and Arashi returned to Konoha, the gatekeepers noticed something amiss with the team. They just couldn't put a finger on it, though anybody who wasn't blind could notice the heavy air around them.

They trudged through the bustling streets silently, towards the Hokage Tower, without their usual vigor. Villagers, shopkeepers who recognized them sent questioning looks, but they didn't approach. The older, seasoned shinobi didn't even bat an eye, after all, this was the way of the shinobi, they're numb, used to it all. They could just tell from their looks, that someone has perished.

The team finally reached the tower, and headed up to the Hokage's office, all the while ignoring the looks, points and whispers around them.

When they entered the office, they were met with the Hokage's grim face, his crystal ball placed beside a neatly stacked pile of signed paperwork.

" Mission failed," Arashi reported, his face still and emotionless. The Sandaime raised an eyebrow.

" I was told that a team of Konoha shinobi successfully destroyed Kannabi Bridge. Unless there were other problems…?"

The blond jounin nodded, " The mission itself was successful, though we.." he paused briefly, " We had a casualty,"

The Hokage sighed, taking a deep puff from his pipe, " The rest of you may be dismissed, Arashi, stay." The teens did what they were told, silently leaving, without glancing back.

" I'd like you to give a full report, Arashi…don't leave anything out,"

* * *

_They usually found Obito's loudness bothering. Now they truly missed his obnoxious loud voice._

_They usually found Obito's lateness annoying. Now they didn't need to wait ten to half an hour just for him; though they would still wait._

_Waiting…hoping for the Uchiha to come plowing through streets…shouting out his infamous lame excuses…_

Sakura silently cursed the careless faces on the streets, the laughing was overwhelming, the sun itself was too much a contrast to her dark mood.

All she wanted was to go back to Rin's house and mourn. She glanced at her female companion, Rin's normally bright, hazel eyes were a dull brown, the light nearly gone. She glanced to her right, and frowned slightly, noticing how she wouldn't be able to see his face, or his emotions.

There were times when she would curse him for wearing that mask…

But there were also times when she would be grateful…

They were passing the training grounds when Kakashi suddenly stopped, and turned his head slightly to face the two girls.

" I'll be heading back from here…"

Sakura and Rin nodded, both too tired to say anything else. There was an awkward silence, and Kakashi turned away, and said something that spooked the living lights out of the two girls….

" See…you two tomorrow," He mumbled out, a bit discomfited.

Rin stood there, softly saying, " Kakashi-kun never says bye after our training sessions or get togethers…'

" Yeah…"

_I wonder why?_

They didn't bother thinking too much, and trudged back home.

* * *

Kakashi opened his eyes, he was standing in their usual training grounds. He felt his left eye, and was surprised to feel…there wasn't the scar. Or the insane pain when the Iwa ninja's knife sliced through it.

The sun was shining, Rin and Sachiko were sitting on a log a few feet away from him, chatting about something girly…Arashi was doing pushups, and no Obito was in sight.

' _Is this a dream?'_ The scarecrow thought, almost wanting to believe it. Everything was surreal, it was just like he had dropped into the past. The past…before the war…before they were sent off to infiltrate…

Before Obito died.

' _Is this even real?'_

" What's wrong, Kakashi-kun?" Kakashi looked at the dark brown haired girl, and blinked confused.

" What's real?" Sachiko asked, looking completely confused.

Had he spoken outloud?

" Nothing."

The two girls sent him looks before continuing to chat, with Sachiko sending concerned glances at him every now and then.

" Where's Obito?" The black haired girl suddenly asked, and Arashi stood up, patting imaginary dust off his dark navy pants.

Rin gave her trademark warm smile, " Probably late again,"

There was a yell, and a loud crash. The team turned around, except for Kakashi. Sachiko sniggered, Rin laughed, Arashi chuckled.

" Sorry, I'm late! I ran into an old lady whose kitten was stuck up in a tree…"

Kakashi finally turned around, and stood there, glued to the ground, his eyes opened wide, mouth agape behind his mask.

Obito grinned crookedly, his whole right face, body smashed and bloody, both his eye sockets were empty and bleeding. But the others didn't seem to notice this. They continued to stand there, Arashi lecturing Obito on being on time again…

_Why couldn't they see?_

" Kakashi, something's off with you…is there something wrong?" Sachiko asked, this time concern showing brightly on her face.

He didn't trust his voice, it might have come out as a squeak. So very un-Kakashi like.

The Uchiha laughed, or at least tried to, the sound came out horrifying, blots of blood flew out of his mouth, " Yeah, Kakashi-teme, you look like you've seen a ghost!"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, stepping forward, his voice calm, though his mind and heart were in turmoil, " You're supposed to be dead."

The four blinked, and Obito laughed out loud, recovering first from Kakashi's odd statement, " Hey, I know you really dislike me, but hey! I'm not dead!'

The silver haired teen let out a low growl, approaching Obito, " Yes, you are! You're damned bleeding, you're supposed to be crushed under that boulder!" Kakashi shouted, startling everyone present. He was never the one to shout.

He stopped in front of Obito's disfigured body, who was still grinning his crooked grin, and shook his shoulders.

The next moment, the whole world became black, only he and the Uchiha stood, floating in a dimension of darkness.

Kakashi shook him harder, all the while shouting, " You're supposed to be fucking **dead!" **

Another shake, and Obito's grin became twisted. Bleeding disfigured hands shot out from the ground, wrapping themselves around Kakashi's legs, arms and body. He struggled, he really did. But the hands latched on even tighter, nearly cutting off his blood circulation.

Obito reached out with his non-crushed hand, " Give me back…."

And plunged his hand into Kakashi's left eye.

" **MY EYE!"**

Mismatched eyes shot open, mouth open in silent scream. Kakashi shot up from his bed, his whole body drenched in sweat.

" It was a nightmare…" He mumbled to himself, " It's not real…"

Though the pain was so real, Kakashi thought, his hand going to rub his left eye. He glanced at his clock, and frowned slightly, noticing it was still dark outside the window.

5 am in the morning…

Kakashi wobbled out of his bed and headed to the bathroom, the pain in his eye intensifying. He stared straight into the mirror, not quite able to take in the new face that was his.

And in the mirror, standing behind him, was Uchiha Obito, grinning at him.

He spun around, and frowned, no one was there. Kakashi sighed, and turned around to turn on the faucet to wash his face. He looked up to face the mirror once more.

Pain exploded in his eye, Kakashi could see white spots popping up before his vision. He vaguely remembered falling onto the white-tiled floor, withering and grabbing his face.

Kakashi lived in the desolated parts near Konoha's busy plaza.

No one heard the anguished scream on 5 am that morning.

* * *

_They say people would never know to cherish things around them until they've finally lost them._

Sakura woke up early, and lay there in her bed next to Rin's, staring at the ceiling.

She dreamt about Obito under the boulder. And the next few ones becoming Naruto…telling her to don't cry…

Sasuke-kun, telling her she was still annoying…

And Kakashi-sensei, giving his eye-smile at her, assuring her that everything will be all right.

_Nothing's all right, Kakashi-sensei…_

_I never really knew that your past was so..so…_

Sakura closed her emerald eyes, and cried.

She wondered if Rin and Kakashi were faring any better.

* * *

_Meet me at the memorial. ---Kakashi_

That was what the note stuck on the front door of Rin's house had said, and both Sakura and Rin were standing near the grassy small hill where the memorial sat.

Standing in front of it, was the silver haired teen. Rin approached him first, leaving Sakura behind, to watch the two.

The two was talking, of what she didn't know. But Sakura could see that Kakashi was…

Crying.

Both stood and headed over to them, Rin speaking first, " Let's head over to the training site."

By the time they arrived, the field was occupied with the other teams from their same graduating year.

The three continued walking, though Sakura noticed that Kakashi had closed his left eye.

_He doesn't want anyone know of the Sharingan._

But then again, news traveled fast in Konoha, by now, Sakura betted half the village knew of Uchiha Obito's death and Kakashi's Sharingan.

" Kakashi?" Rin was standing in front of the two, eyes with a meaningful glance.

She always knew Kakashi was a bit anti-social, and was never relaxed in huge crowds. So Rin tried to gauge his teammate's mood.

Kakashi stood there with a heavily lidded eye, his posture slouched, hands stuffed in his pockets.

Odd, Rin knew he didn't act this way before. But judging from the knowing look in Sachiko's eyes told her that she knew something that she didn't.

" KAKASHI!"

The three frowned, or…at least Kakashi seemed to, and the three noticed that the bowl cut shinobi was waving his hands wildly from the field.

The silver haired teen sighed, " Seems like we've been noticed, let's get going then."

He walked off, leaving the two girls paces behind.

Rin scooted closer to Sachiko and muttered softly, " Do you think Kakashi's acting strangely?"

Sakura stared at the slouching back that was Kakashi's, and muttered back, " How so?"

Hazel eyes widened, " You mean you haven't noticed?"

A snort, " The slouch? The lazy expression?"

" Yeah, that." Rin sighed, " He looks a lot like…"

The memory of Obito slouching, hands stuffed in his pockets slowly appeared in Sakura's mind's eye, right where Kakashi was standing.

" Obito…" Both of them finished together.

* * *

Maito Gai, the bowl cut, green spandex, orange legwarmer wearing chuunin came out of the crowd and walked in front of the pair, forcing the three to stop and acknowledge him once the three had arrived at the field, where most of the other chuunins were looking at them.

The tall chuunin had tanned, broad features and a square chin, with his bowl cut hairdo that he maintained, as shiny and perfect as it was. Out of all the other boys his age, Gai had physically matured the fastest, though some might say that his taste in fashion equals to a kid's fashion sense.

" Kakashi, fight me!" Maito Gai shouted, pointing at Kakashi, " Show me that Obito hasn't made a mistake by giving his gift to you! If I lose, we'll " he gestured to his other two teammates, Kurenai and Asuma," Run five hundred laps around Konoha!"

Kakashi narrowed his eye, and Kurenai, Gai's other teammate stepped forward, placing a warning hand onto his shoulder, " Gai…don't….sensei will be here soon, and I'm not in the mood to run-"

" I accept," The silver haired teen spoke, ignoring the stares locked onto his form seconds after the words left his mouth. (And Kurenai's heated glare)

Rin shook her head, reaching forward to grab his elbow, " Kakashi, your wounds-"

The silver haired teen gently removed the medic-nin's hand from his elbow, " I'll be fine." Kakashi looked up and locked eyes with Rin.

" YOSH! Let's get started then!" Gai shouted, the other teens around them moving away to give the two rivals space.

Shiranui Genma, a senbon sucking chuunin stood near the two rivals, as referee. He nodded to the two teens, before shouting, " Start!"

Gai charged forward, and leapt into the air. He brought his right foot down in an axe chop, and noticed Kakashi had opened his left eye.

Two tomoe swirled in the blood red depths, Gai was briefly memorized by the eye.

_So this is the Sharingan!  
_

His foot was blocked by Kakashi's hand, Gai spun on his left heel, bringing a fist up to punch him. In less than a second, the bowl cut haired chuunin felt a fist collide against his stomach, forcing him onto the ground.

Slightly dazed, Gai sat up, and stared at his rival, who was staring at his hands in shock.

The chuunins and some newly promoted jounins around them had equal looks of shock, though some of them were less pronounced.

" Damn, he was fast!" Genma broke the silence, mumbling around his senbon, " He made Gai look like he was on pause!" Kurenai, who had been standing near the brown haired chuunin, knocked his head violently, just to get him to shut up.

Gai and Kakashi remained that way for minutes, one on the ground, staring at the other with wide eyes, the other staring at the one on the ground, with a lone blood red eye.

Everybody present half expected Gai to attack Kakashi any moment, except for Gai's own team, and…Sakura, who had a vague idea what he was about to do….

" YOSH!" The green spandex clad chuunin shot up from the ground, mouth wide, teeth gleaming its unearthly gleam under the sun, " The fire of youth is strong in Kakashi! I must run my laps!" He turned around, facing the horrified Kurenai and Asuma, " LETS!"

For the remainder of that day, one could see the members of Team Eleven jogging around Konoha, a green spandex clad chuunin leading the other two.

* * *

A/N: This chapter lacks something...it's not what I've been planing to write. Never mind...I decided to add Gai and others as relief, seeing the previous chapters were all moody and dark.

Though, I could say this is merely a filler chapter, and the next one will be focusing more on Sakura. Kakashi and Rin will be out of the spotlight for the remaining of the Aftermath Arc: Sakura. (Mostly, but it's for the plot) Though the matters for Kakashi's Sharingan and the Uchiha clan will also be featured next chapter.

To those who read my LJ, I just experienced a life-changing event. O.o; it was like…last week or something? It certainly changed something between me and the boy sitting next to my seat. (Our relationship went from completely 'normal classmates' to 'a boy and girl shamelessly flirting with one another'.)

NEWS: I HAVE FINALLY REACHED 200 REVIEWS! CELEBRATE!

Yes! And as a celebrating gift, here's an omake, featuring OBITO! Rest in peace, my goggle headed friend….

* * *

He was the Academy's dead last, something his clan deeply disapproved of.

He was his team's crybaby, something Kakashi found insulting.

He was Uchiha Obito, an Uchiha who has yet to activate the Sharingan.

It had been a full two weeks since being placed onto Team Arashi. At that time, Kazama Arashi already had an apprentice, Hatake Kakashi, and had taken him and his crush, Takara Rin under his wing.

At first he was ecstatic, who wouldn't be when you've just found out you're on the same team with your crush?

He excitement immediately fizzled out of existent, during training, when Kakashi had all but rudely thrown him onto the ground, placed a foot onto his head, making him eat dirt.

That had been enough for him, after all, he just couldn't keep up with the genius's speed; he was made for sheer melee combat.

But degrading him in front of Rin? His own crush?

The embarrassment was so overwhelming that Obito hadn't heard Arashi's voice, telling Kakashi to get his foot off his head, or the soft voice of his crush; asking him if he was all right?

It became Obito's cycle of life that he had to endure everyday, Kakashi's insults, Rin's warm voice, Arashi-sensei's bright smile, the constant being-ignored routine in his clan, the put-downs his father would berate him every night, being beaten into the ground until he was too damned sore to get up, (and earning another insult from Kakashi)…it was another endless cycle Obito hated and loved.

Up until a bright sunny day. Obito had been wandering around his clan's overly large compound, passing by a near deserted alley.

A black haired girl with brilliant jade orbs stared at him in shock.

It was that very day, Obito met with Sachiko, who in the future, would finally admit to him that her real name was actually Sakura…

End


	11. Aftermath Arc Sakura: Chapter 11

Aftermath Arc: Sakura

Chapter 11

Hushed and stern voices were blocked out as Sakura slowly closed the paper lined door of the meeting room. She slowly made her way away from the room, and leaned against a crafted wooden fence of the Uchiha manor. Sakura let out a breath she didn't notice she had been holding.

The Uchiha clan leader, Uchiha Fugaku had requested to meet Kakashi, their sole motive was to get their precious Sharingan back from the non-Uchiha.

Of course, they didn't expect to walk right into a concrete wall known as Kazama Arashi. Yesterday, right after Gai's challenge, Arashi and the other sensei's had shown up. Their blond haired leader had informed them of the clan's request, (or more like an order, as Arashi had put it) and conveniently remarked that he won't let any Uchiha near Kakashi. (" Unless they want to be Hiraishin'ed to the next century!")

Sakura walked away from the meeting room, and turned around a corner, she was met with four kunai embedding themselves into the wooden column beside her head. She slowly raised a pink eyebrow, and realized she was beside the Uchiha training grounds.

And a small little boy she had dubbed as 'The Weasel of Doom' was standing in the center of the arena, sweating his living daylights out.

" Sachiko-neechan!"

She let a small smile grace her lips, watching the younger boy rush over to bear hug her legs. Since the first time she had seen the future-S class criminal after getting sent back to time, Sakura had reluctantly brushed away any fears of Itachi murdering the Uchiha clan anytime soon. (Though her inner self always kept on ranting silently 'Kill the weasel' whenever the boy was around.)

" I'm angry!" Itachi mumbled, into her skirt, his petite fists fisted tightly around the cloth, " Father insulted Obito-neesan! Saying he was a dis-disgrace to the Uchiha clan by giving Kakashi-neessan the Sharingan!"

The small smile on her lips was quickly replaced with a frown, and Itachi continued on, oblivious, " A-and he threatened Uncle Yuudai last night, I didn't know what they were saying…but I think it's imp-portant!"

" Ah, so you're the other girl Obito had been talking about," The two spun around, to meet the new comer, and Itachi had leapt away from Sakura as if he had been shocked.

" Mommy!" The little weasel rushed over to the woman's side, clutching her leg tightly as he had done with Sakura.

" Now, Itachi, father wouldn't like you hugging anyone," The woman pulled a face, to resemble her husband's stern one, " It would be unbecoming for a shinobi!"

Itachi smiled before turning to the temporary neglected Sakura, " Sachiko-neechan, this is my mommy! She's….uh…" The boy wrinkled his nose as he stumbled on the new vocabulary word he had just learned, " P…pregn…pregnant!"

Sakura mentally sweatdropped while Itachi's mother laughed goodheartedly, unlike her husband…and for the first time since Itachi's mother had stepped in, Sakura noticed the woman's belly was indeed, slightly big.

_Sasuke-kun?_

" I'm Mikoto, Itachi's mother. I've heard things from Obito about his team," She gave a smile, " You're Sachiko then?"

The black haired genin bowed before nodding, " Yes, and…if you don't mind me asking, are you Obito's er…."

Mikoto smiled, " I'm his aunt," She glanced behind her, before lowering her voice, " Would you like some tea?"

Sakura paused, before nodding " Alright," And was violently pulled away by a hyper Itachi.

" Well! Good to know you'd be able to keep your gift, Kakashi!" Arashi said, once they were a good distance away from the meeting room. The silver haired teen standing beside him mutely nodded. After a few hours sitting and debating over Kakashi's eye, Fugaku had reluctantly let go of the situation. " Though, Kakashi, you be careful these days….even though Fugaku may have slightly given up, that doesn't mean the rest of the clan won't." He was answered with another mute nod.

Rin, on the other hand, frowned, " Where's Sachiko?"

At that very moment, Sakura stepped out from a room, smiling slightly at someone, before noticing her team's presence. Another head, poked out from the room, Rin recognized him as the clan's head son, Itachi.

As Sakura bid Itachi and Mikoto goodbye, she headed to her team, noticing Rin's smile and Kakashi's laid-back posture; she had noticed this morning while heading to the Uchiha compound that he was stiff as a wooden board.

" So, how did the meeting go?" Sakura asked softly. From the start of the meeting, she had noticed the stares from the Uchiha Elders and clan head, obviously they didn't want her to be there. So she left. And Rin?

_She's the team healer, she's done more for them than I'll ever do._

" Kakashi gets to keep the Sharingan," Arashi announced, as they headed out of the compound, passing by a few Uchihas who were glaring at the silver haired teen, who in turn, lazily glared back.

Sakura beamed at the masked teen, " That's great!"

_Tch, of course he gets to keep it, after all, there wouldn't be a Copy-Ninja in the future! _

They continued on walking through the streets, Sakura noticed they were heading to the Hero's stone, but she remained silent, her heart aching again.

_What would I know? They've known him longer than I have…_

She glanced at her two teammates, taking in the sorrowful expressions. Or look in Kakashi's eyes.

Eyes.

Sakura blinked, noticing for the first time that Kakashi still had his eye closed, before smiling slightly.

They arrived at the monument, Kakashi taking the time to find their deceased friend's name, and tracing it with his thumb. Rin, Sakura and Arashi stood behind him.

" It's not your fault, Kakashi-kun…" Rin whispered softly, but her crush didn't reply.

They remained like that for a while, before Arashi broke the silence.

" Well, team," he started off, " Sandaime-sama's negotiating with Iwa, apparently right after our mission, another squad was sent out to eliminate the enemy that was at the bridge. The damage was great, and it reduced Iwa's number noticeably,"

Rin looked up, staring at her sensei, " That means the war's ending?"

" If the negotiation turns out alright." Arashi spoke, before his face broke out into a huge grin, " I'm not supposed to tell you anything though…" His eyes darkened slightly, casting a glance at the stone, " But since we're already here, and maybe Obito can hear us…" Arashi paused, letting the three teens hang onto his word.

" I'm nominated as Hokage!"

The three teens stared before grinning, (or at least Rin and Sakura did). " Ceremony's when the treaty's signed." The blond jounin finished, proudly admiring his handiwork of lifting his student's spirits.

But…

He noticed how Kakashi had remained silent throughout his announcement.

_Kakashi, so you've finally realized that friends are important…_

After saying their prayers, they left the monument, each planning to head on their own way.

Arashi looked up at the sky, _if Obito never died on that mission…_

_Perhaps…_

He glanced back, and could vaguely see Obito standing in the middle of the three teens, arguing with Kakashi; just like the old times.

" Kakashi, wait." Said teen stopped, and beside him, Rin did to. Ahead of them, Arashi had paused in his thinking.

Sakura headed towards Kakashi, she had been lingering longer than the others, and stood in front of the silver haired teen. A lone black eye stared right into emerald ones.

Rin stood next to them, and she wondered what was going on in Sakura's mind.

Sakura brought up her hands, to Kakashi's hiae-ate, and gently tugged the left side down, so it covered the Sharingan eye. It made his hair askew, and just by looking at his face, it reminded Sakura of the future.

" You won't have to close your eye all the time now."

The silver haired teen said nothing, before slowly, his visible eye arched up into that familiar eye smile.

" Thanks."

A month had passed since Uchiha Obito's death, and the disbandment of Team Arashi.

After the treaty was signed between Iwa and Konoha, the Shinobi War officially ended, it was a spectacular celebration, and the lonely hill where the Hero's stone sat on was filled with people paying their respects for the shinobi who had passed away.

During the announcement of the treaty being passed, Sandaime had announced Kazama Arashi as his successor, and another festival was held the following day.

It was also the last night that Team Arashi spent together.

After that, Kakashi and Rin were sent on missions, sometimes solo, sometimes together.

And yet again, Sakura was left behind.

* * *

A week after the Hokage ceremonies…

" _It's not because we don't trust you, Sachiko," Arashi began. The two were in the Hokage's office, the man clad in the traditional Hokage robes, with only a dark navy blue cloak hanging from one of the chairs beside a huge pile of paperwork. " There's another case of a villager missing, and it happened near the same alley, where you appeared. There were reports of people seeing a shrine in that alley, I believe you've seen that too, according to what Sarutobi had said months ago, when he called you to his office."_

_Sakura nodded, wondering if they had found out yet._

" _If it's true, to what the people say in the mental ward, that they've seen the future or the past…that shrine is a time transporter?"_

_Yup, he's found out._

_Arashi smiled at the lack of response, " I see I've finally gotten it." _

" _It's true," Sakura paused, after a lapse of silence, " I'm…from the future." She cast a glance at the Hokage before muttering, " How many people know of this?"_

" _Apart from the Sarutobi and I, only Jiraiya and Tsunade. Those two only know that the shrine is a time transporter, don't worry," _

" _Ah…" _

_Arashi suddenly gave a Naruto-ish like grin, leaning forward, propping his head up with his hands, " So I've heard from Kakashi before, that Sachiko may not be your real name…" _

_Sakura rolled her eyes, " It's…Sakura."_

" _Funny, there was a Haruno Sakura born just last month." Arashi deadpanned._

" _There's probably a handful of women out there named Sakura," _

" _Yes, but most of them don't have green eyes, and here I'm assuming you have pink hair then. Is that hair dye?"_

_Sakura sweatdropped, and Arashi gleefully remarked, " I saw you with a bag of black hair dye the other day," _

_Damn._

_Arashi sighed, " Alright, I'm done with the teasing. None of what we've just exchanged will be told to public, it wouldn't do if any of our enemies find out we have a time transporter in our village. And you're off missions for the remaining time you're here." He noticed the utter look of confusion on his student's face. " If you died, it would affect the future, no body would be able to explain your death, since it happened in the past." _

_Sakura could just imagine what would happen. She coughed, and decided to change the subject, " So how are Kakashi and Rin doing?"_

" _On missions," Arashi answered, " I've noticed Rin odd behavior lately, is there something going on with you two?" _

" _Well…"_

_She couldn't just answer that she'd been avoiding them lately, can she!? _

_Apart from staying at Rin's semi-empty home, (except for her mother's presence) Sakura found herself seeking out the other kunoichi in Kakashi's generation, though there weren't much to find…And she became close friends with Kurenai, (Sakura found out she's actually a gossip-monger.) _

" _We're fine."_

_Arashi stared, with a look of utter disbelieve on his facial features before sighing and muttering, " You may go now." _

_Bowing, Sakura turned to leave, when she heard the blond's voice again, " Did I tell you that my wife's pregnant?"_

…

"……………………………_..You're married?"_

* * *

Two months after…

_Kurenai and Sakura lay on the grass of the Training Field 12, both heaving after a session of sparring._

" _So, have you heard of Kakashi and Rin?"_

_What's up with everybody asking me that? _

" _No…" Sakura noticed the bewilderment on her ruby eyed friend's face, " Am I supposed to?"_

_Kurenai sat up abruptly, eyes wide, " What? You haven't heard? They're going out!" _

………………………_What?_

_The black haired kunoichi sat up too, eyes wide as saucers, " What?"_

" _I can't believe it, you live with Rin, and you don't even know!?" _

_Sakura sighed, running a hand through her messy locks, " She's not…at home often anymore. And I'm not either," She glanced at Kurenai._

" _Ah, library worm."_

"…_.."_

_Yet, they've gotten together, becoming the number one gossip news in Konoha._

_I wonder why I never noticed the faraway looks on Rin's face every time she came back from missions…_

_I sometime wonder why I've been sent back in time…is it because of what I've asked to Naruto and Sasuke all those months ago?_

" _I wonder what Kakashi-sensei's like when he was our age…"_

_Is it because I'm supposed to change something?_

_If that's it…what am I supposed to change?_

August

_News of a second Uchiha heir being born spread through Konoha like wildfire, Sakura was hanging out at bookstore, when she heard the news from another aisle._

' _Sasuke-kun?' _

_She smiled slightly, wondering if she should go and pay another visit to Mikoto-san and Itachi. _

' _The clan head wouldn't be pleased…but still.' She sighed, closing the book she had in her hands with a snap._

' _Alright, a visit is in order.'_

_After buying a present she thought Sasuke would like…(which was a plushie shuriken and a lion plushie.), Sakura headed to the Uchiha compound. Along the way, her mind whirled of explanations she'd spout if she happened to pass the clan head._

_It was just her luck that Itachi was standing right outside the compound._

" _Sachiko-neechan!" The boy squealed, bombarding the poor girl with a bear-hug around her thigh._

" _Hey, Itachi," She patted the weasel's head, and wondered how she had gotten herself in this mess. Sakura kneeled, so she was facing Itachi, " Can you bring me to your mother? I have a present to give,"_

" _Sure!" _

_Moments later, Sakura found herself in the clan head's house, or was it dojo…Mikoto was at the kitchen, preparing a bottle of warm milk when Itachi literally dragged Sakura in._

" _Mother, Sachiko-neechan's here!" _

_Smiling, Mikoto beckoned Sakura to follow her, shaking the milk bottle, " I believe you've heard of the news then?"_

" _Yes, in the bookstore I might add."_

_Itachi's mother laughed warmly, as they headed into the nursery room, where Uchiha Sasuke laid in a white painted crib, gurgling something._

" _That's my brother, Sasuke!" Itachi announced, grinning up at the black haired kunoichi, who smiled back._

" _Lovely brother you have."_

_Mikoto lifted the infant up, and sat in one of the chairs to feed Sasuke. Before he started to suck, the infant was gurgling, and it made Sakura laugh._

' _Imagine what Sasuke's reaction would be if I told him this!' _

_She heard Mikoto mutter, " I don't speak baby, Sasuke-kun…"_

_Sakura lifted up the bag that held her gifts, " Uh..I've brought presents…"_

* * *

Days later Sakura saw Sasuke's lion plushie in Itachi's hands.

* * *

Sakura continued living her days like this, occasionally going on simple missions here and there.

It was weeks after her visit to the Uchihas, on a dark gloomy day. She and Rin's mother was staying indoors, Rin's mother explaining a theory on a medical jutsu when one of the Hokage's personal messengers arrived at their front door.

With bad news.

* * *

A/N: Urgh, Eight pages of nonsense. I'm on writers block, can't really think up what to write, even though I practically have everything thought up. Hope everybody's not too disappointed!! A lot of time skips in this chapter, I really wanted to finish the Sakura arc and go onto Kakashi arc...since there's KakaSaku fluff coughs

ANYWAY! Hope you're at least satisfied that I didn't turn into roadkill this week sweatdrops


	12. Aftermath Arc Kakashi: Chapter 12

(notes: The beginning of this chapter will be slight confusing, it happens a week or so before Sakura receives Rin's news in the last chapter.)

* * *

Aftermath Arc: Kakashi

Chapter 12

Kakashi stood at the monument, knowing that Rin would arrive soon. It wasn't like him to be early for anything now, a far cry of what he used to be, before Obito's death. But when it came to his friend…

" Morning, Kakashi." He turned slightly to greet his girlfriend.

_Girlfriend._

He snorted mentally, they were anything but that.

Real people in a relationship would be holding hands in public.

Real People in a relationship would be gushing romantic things to each other.

Real people in a relationship would be –

" Kakashi?" Kakashi glanced at Rin, concern lining her face. He shrugged, " I'm fine."

There was a brief silence, and he sighed again, running a slender right hand through his unruly hair.

" I'm going on a mission." Kakashi broke the news, " You….weren't-"

" Assigned on your team, I know." The medic-nin finished for him, smiling her warm smile. " I'm leaving today, too."

" Hm."

They stayed like that, standing next to each other at a respectful distance, staring at their friend's name engraved on the obsidian stone.

" We can't keep doing this." Rin whispered, her voice sounding strained and anguished.

This time, Rin had Kakashi's full attention, " What?"

Tears were starting to form at the tips of her eyes, " We can't keep doing this," Rin repeated, whispering furiously, " You. Me. We just can't…"

Kakashi lowered his eyes. So she felt the same too….

" I never thought of Obito's feelings would be so strong…it never occurred to me. Up until you told me on that mission, I would keep thinking it was a silly crush…"

It was the first time Rin had brought up Obito in their conversations, since the funeral.

" I thought we would be happy together…I really did. It's just…I keep feeling…that I've betrayed Obito somehow…"

_Bingo. _Kakashi thought ruefully.

" Rin," Kakashi started, scowling behind his mask at how his voice sounded, " It's..complicated….I thought I could protect you like this…"

Rin looked up, " So…you feel nothing…for me?"

The scarecrow paused, before nodding slowly. " You're like a younger sister I never had…"

" I see…" Fresh tears welled up again, and Kakashi started again, " I'm sorry, Rin, it's-"

He sighed, before muttering, " I feel the same way…betraying Obito like this…It should be him with you, not me. I took that away from him, if only he didn't die under that boulder…it was supposed to be me!"

Rin remained quiet, before stepping forward, and held Kakashi's anguished face in her palms, " Kakashi," she whispered softly, before giving a chaste kiss on his cheek, right under his left eye. " I'm not blaming you for anything."

Kakashi stood there, glued to the ground, hands stuck to his side like always.

" I'm sorry, Rin." He whispered, feeling quite helpless. Rin flashed him a warm smile, like always, but it was sad.

" I'm sorry too…"

Rin turned around one last time, and said loud and clear for Kakashi to hear, " The next time you see Sachiko…tell….tell her that I'm sorry," with that, she turned and walked away.

Kakashi never got the chance to say good bye.

* * *

It was a week later, when Hatake Kakashi placed his foot into Konoha's familiar streets. It had been a week-long mission, simple as it was, it still brought a migraine whenever he thought of it.

_Blame the bastard of a teammate._

His talkativeness was one thing, it was the way he acted that ticked him off.

_So much like Obito._

" You bastard!" Before Kakashi knew it, he was on the ground, his right cheek stinging. Before him stood Genma, his face contorted into a deep scowl.

" What the hell?" Kakashi grumbled, getting up and dodging a clumsy punch aimed to his chest. Genma was sure careless when he was angry.

" You said you'd protect her!" Genma roared, ignoring all the stares they were receiving from the bystanders.

" What you talking about!" Annoyed, and tired, Kakashi demanded, but at Genma's state of fury, he doubted he even heard anything.

" You swore on Obito's grave!" That he did.

" Genma!"

" SHE'S DEAD!"

" Gen- _**what?" **_

The hazel haired teen froze, his fist raised up to punch Kakashi again, before furiously looking away.

Kakashi moved forward to him, " **What. Did. You. Just. Say!"** He shook his shoulders with each word.

" Rin…she's dead." Genma whispered, " Her team arrived on Monday. They were ambushed by missing-nins." He scowled, " You weren't with her!"

Shaking slightly, the silver haired teen stepped away from Genma, " We were placed on separate teams."

They stood there, and the people around them hastily returned to whatever they were doing before.

" You missed the funeral…" Genma mumbled, stuffing his hands into his pockets, " It was held yesterday."

Kakashi remained silent, before briskly heading off.

" Hey! Where're you going!"

Genma was replied by a faint, " Rin's house."

* * *

" She's dead…she's dead…she's dead….she's dead…." Takara Ai, Rin's mother, paced around the living room, muttering under her breath. It had been three days since the news, a day since the funeral. Her hair was messy, dark bags hung under her once bright eyes.

In short, she was broken.

First her husband, now her daughter. They were gone. Gone.

" Takara-san," Sakura whispered, balancing a tray with a cup of tea. Ai jumped slightly, fixing her wide, glazed eyes at the dark haired girl, before fleeing out of the apartment.

_Shit. _

Sakura placed the tray on the coffee table before quickly slipping on her sandals and following the crazed-state of Rin's mother.

She ran down the stairs, before literally kicking the door open and ran right into a chest.

A green vested chest.

" Sachiko?"

Sakura looked up, startled, " Kakashi!?"

_He's back! _Inner Sakura gasped, sharing the same startled, though a bit more exaggerated, expression on her face.

It took a brief second for Sakura to register that she had her hands on his chest, she jumped back, as if she was burned.

" You're back, have you seen Rin's mother- oh no." Sakura's face turned pale, and quickly pushed Kakashi out of her way roughly, and dashed down the street, following the anguished wails that echoed through the afternoon.

Kakashi said nothing, the situation quickly registering into his mind, and he followed.

The two gave chase, following the wails, occasionally glancing at the passerby's expression.

Sakura had to restrain herself from punching the old lady who bad-mouthed Rin's mother, as they passed another corner.

_She doesn't know what Takara-san's going through!_

And to her horror, Rin's mother was heading towards the Hokage Mountain.

_Oh god, she can't be thinking of…_

As if Kakashi was thinking along the same lines as her, both of their sprints became even more faster.

They hurried up the stairs that lead up to the top of the mountain, and Sakura could faintly see Takara-san's figure near the top of the stairs.

_Damn, I didn't know she could run that fast! _

The two reached the top, panting, (though Kakashi looked like he was only taking deep breaths).

Sakura knew deep in her heart, if she never met Team Arashi, and she was to give chase like this, she'd probably fall to the ground early on, twitching. And so she was grateful. Very grateful.

Sobbing, and crying, Takara Ai stood in front of the fenced edge, the fence to keep anyone from falling off the mountain. Her disheveled frame leaned dangerously far over the fence, and Sakura kept on beating back the horrified feeling in her stomach.

_Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic, don't panic, don't panic!!_

" Takara-san?" Sakura ventured, almost half-scared that by her voice alone could startle her and make her fall off-

_NO! Think happy thoughts!_

" DON'T COME NEAR ME!" The half-crazed woman screeched, her glazed eyes darting from Kakashi to Sakura. Sakura hesitantly took a step forward, only to be stopped by Kakashi.

He shook his head slightly, mouthing _'don't. _Kakashi leaned to Sakura's ear, whispering, " You distract her,"

_Funny how we're talking so civilly, it's been months since we last talked. And it was a one-sided conversation of you grunting every now and then. _Inner Sakura deadpanned, nearly making her alter ego burst out laughing.

Nodding, Sakura decided the best tactic possible was, _try to coax her away from the fence._

_That's the best thing you can come up?! _Her inner ego mumbled.

_Not now, it's not like I've had experience with this! _

" Takara-san, please don't act rashly! I'm not going to hurt you," Sakura started, wincing mentally how _convincing _it sounded. Kakashi, who had taken the honor to hide and strike at the right time, rolled his single eye.

_Damn you for putting me in this spot! _

But apparently, the words had their affect, when Ai stopped shaking slightly to answer, " You won't?"

It saddened Sakura to a whole new level that the once strong woman she knew was like this.

_Would my parents be like this if I died on a mission? _

" I won't." Sakura replied firmly.

Takara Ai took a tentative step from the, and then another. And then another.

_She looks so lost. _Sakura thought sadly, _why did fate had to be so cruel? _

_Why did they take Rin away? _

Seconds later, while Sakura was lost in her thoughts, a sudden thump brought her out of it.

Kakashi was standing behind the woman who had crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Feeling slightly put off, Sakura stomped forward, " _**What did you do to her?!" **_

The silver haired teen shrugged, " Knocked her unconscious." He sent her a glance, before muttering, " I'll go find authorities. You…"

" I'll watch her,"

Nodding, Kakashi quickly headed to the stairs.

_I really should nag Arashi-sensei to teach us the teleportation jutsu sometime._

* * *

Screams and anguished wails were muffled through the white sliding door, something Sakura was deeply obliged for. It had been painful to watch her being strapped to the stretcher, kicking and screaming.

She glanced to the teen sitting next to her, his posture a far cry of what he used to be.

Kakashi was _slouching. _

_Well, he should be. _Inner Sakura remarked. _Isn't he supposed to be like that? _

_No, he was stiff as a board. _

_That was before Obito's death. _Her alter ego reminded her.

Could it be that because of Obito's death, it changed Kakashi?

_The odds are high. _Inner Sakura prodded again, before Sakura furiously kicked her to the corner of her mind.

" It's been months since we last talked," Sakura muttered, deciding to break the uncomfortable silence, and pointedly ignoring the curious looks on passerby's faces.

_They have a right to be curious. We're sitting in the Mental Ward! _

" Hm." The teen grunted, his eyes were still fixed on the door.

It was another ten minutes or so later that the head of the Inuzuka clan arrived, nodding his greeting to the two teens before disappearing into Takara Ai's room. Sakura sent a questioning look at Kakashi, who glanced back at her.

" Rin's father was an Inuzuka," had been his blunt, but short reply.

_So that explains the markings on Rin's face…_

The doctor emerged from the room, dutifully pushing his glasses back, " I'm Hiragawa Hiroshi. I have bad news for you about Takara Ai, are any of you her family?"

An uncomfortable silence fell between the three, and Hiroshi coughed slightly, " I'll take that as a yes." Ignoring the silence he continued on, " Takara-san is suffering from depression and has an unstable mental state. It would be best for her that if she stayed in the hospital."

Kakashi nodded mutely, and Sakura wasn't sure how to respond, but she nodded nevertheless.

They soon found themselves wandering out of the hospital. They walked together, towards Rin's now abandoned apartment, Kakashi at her side, hands stuffed in his pockets, and was slouching.

Stopping at the apartment, Sakura muttered, " What am I supposed to do now?"

The silver haired teen shrugged, " I don't see Takara-san recovering any soon."

Furious, the emerald orbed girl whipped around to face the stoic teen, " How can you be so detached now! Rin's mother is sick, and I doubt you know that Rin's dead! You're her _boyfriend." _

" I don't show my feelings for all to see, unlike you! And I know Rin has passed away, for your information." Taking a deep, shaking breath, he continued, " And…we broke off….before the mission."

Sakura stopped her seething, and raised an eyebrow.

Kakashi stared at her long and hard, before muttering something incoherent and quickly marched off away from her and the apartment.

Sighing briefly, she turned to walk up the stairs before she was startled by the sudden appearance of an ANBU member.

" Hokage-sama requests your presence,"

Blinking, Sakura nodded, and followed the ANBU to the Hokage Tower.

* * *

" Sakura," Arashi started, using the girl's real name. " I've just received news of Takara Ai."

Sakura nodded, as she stood before the Yondaime, it was an honor to be standing in front of this man, the man who was claimed to be one of the strongest Hokages before his death.

" Tell me, how is her health?"

" Mentally unstable," Sakura muttered, lowering her eyes. " Rin's death affected her a lot."

Sighing, Arashi leaned backwards into his chair, closing his brilliant blue eyes. " I knew I should have placed Kakashi on her team, but her team was specifically made for tracking." He opened his eyes, sadness was evident in them.

He turned his chair, to face the large wide window facing the village. The sun was setting, bathing Konoha in a brilliant orange glow.

" Every time I send someone out on a mission, it feels like I'm sending them to their deaths." Arashi whispered, but Sakura could hear him clearly. " I wonder how Sarutobi managed to do this for years."

Sakura smiled sadly, knowing the Professor died twelve or more years from now.

_Can I risk it? Can I tell him? _

" Something is bothering you I presume?"

Dodging the question completely, Sakura shot her own, " Has Kakashi been here?"

Smiling slightly, fully knowing Sakura was dodging his question, Arashi nodded, " He told me he was surprised and sad to hear of Rin's death."

" Sad?" It wasn't like Kakashi to admit anything-

Arashi grinned, " I chalked that up,"

…

Sighing again, Arashi continued, " If you have anything to say, I will always lend my ear to you. You are dismissed."

" Hai, Hokage-sama." Sakura murmured before walking out of the office, hearing Arashi's quiet complains of, ' I **told **them not to call me "Hokage-sama" but nooo…'

Smiling slightly, Sakura was relived to know at least some things were still normal.

* * *

A/N: Blame the guilt for not updating. I haven't re-read the earlier chapters, and for now, I'm still a bit blank on what I've typed before. If anyone notices anything out of place, facts wrong, please mention it in your review. I'll be editing the first few chapters soon, and it WILL be different. So be sure to check. (Though I may not be able to get back to those chapters soon.) 


	13. Aftermath Arc: Kakashi: Chapter 13

(Notes: Even though it's basically Kakashi's arc…the main characters for this arc are Kakashi and Sakura, with Arashi as the supporting character. This does not mean I'll be attempting at writing a Kakashi POV. Seriously.)

Rewind

Aftermath Arc:

Kakashi: Chapter 13

The flat was empty, Sakura had cleaned out most of the things; after she had found Takara Ai's will, which had been written a day after Rin's death. From what she could read, it had been written when Ai was already suffering from the mental illness, the once elegant letters had became scrawled, written by a shaky hand. Obeying the Ai's last wish, Sakura planned to go to the Hokage today, to tell him of her plan to sell the house.

_And to hide both her and Rin's journals in somewhere safe._

She smiled slightly at that thought, Sakura will just have to find the time to dig them out, once she was back in her own time.

Just when will that happen? 

It didn't occur to her however, until she reached the Hokage Tower, that she had no other place to live.

The blond haired Yondaime nodded his head, as he finished reading the letter, and looked up to stare at the young girl. " I presume you have a place to live in, if you're selling Takara-san's house."

Blink. Stare. Blink. Gap.

" I'll take that as a no then."

Sakura blushed, mumbling under her breath, and shifted around on her feet. " I've been…busy."

" And too tired," Arashi continued, nodding to the noticeable dark bags under jaded eyes.

She grunted, " And that too."

Just then, there was a knock on the door, Arashi's assistant popped his head in, " Hokage-sama, Hatake Kakashi is here."

" Send him in,"

The door creaked open, and the young Hatake genius stepped into the office, his dark eye eying Sakura before walking forward to drop a bag onto the Hokage's desk.

" Mission successful,"

Arashi smiled, and nodded in approval. He held up his hand to stop Kakashi when he started to the door again.

" Kakashi, how many rooms does your apartment have?"

Said teen stared at his sensei questionably, before his eye darkened, an emotionless façade masking his face, " A kitchen, living room, two restrooms, a storage room and a bed room. What?"

Somewhat gleefully, Arashi turned to Sakura, " Looks like I've found you a place to stay, Sachiko!"

The look on the two teen's faces were priceless, Arashi had thought that very moment.

* * *

Huffing slightly, Sakura taped up the small brown storage box that held most of Rin's medical journals, and another that held her mother's.

_I really have to find the time to hide them. _She thought, glaring at the person standing at the doorway of the bedroom. His back was facing her though.

She zipped up her duffel bag, carefully hiding the bag of black hair dye from view.

" Good to go," Sakura muttered, Kakashi nodded, and together, the two of them headed out. They crossed the living room, white sheets covered most of the furniture.

" Let's go," The silver haired teen said softly, and nudged the girl to move.

Sakura slowly nodded, as Kakashi passed by her. She took the doorknob, and closed it, locking it with the spare key.

It would be a while until the very same door would be opened again.

* * *

The door clicked open, Kakashi unceremoniously kicking the door open, and at the same time, stuffing his key into a pocket in his jounin vest.

Sakura peeked into the apartment and idly wondered if Kakashi still lived here in the future. Slowly, she entered the apartment, and looked around. Everything was neat and tidy. The colors of the furniture were dark and subdued, dark green and brown.

She listened half heartedly as Kakashi gave a short tour of his home, " That's the kitchen, the storage room there, the bathroom beside that, and the bedroom here." He thumbed the door, which was behind him.

The emerald eyed girl blinked, " Where's the other restroom?"

Kakashi looked away and muttered, " In the bedroom."

" Ah."

_This is easy. I'm just living with Hatake Kakashi. Teammate. Future sensei…_

Somehow, Sakura wasn't at least comforted by her musings.

Later on that night, Sakura emerged from the restroom next to the storage room. She had claimed that restroom as her own, wanting to avoid any…_awkward _circumstances occurring, and Sakura had noticed Kakashi was grateful for it too.

After a nice hot shower, her nerves weren't as jumbled as they were before, as she slowly made her way to the bedroom. Sakura stopped short when her hand felt the doorknob.

_**Relax, Sakura! You're just sleeping in the same room, in the same bed, with Kakashi! **_

…

Hmm, that sounded a bit wrong.

Suddenly, the door opened, a very messy, wet haired Kakashi stared at the girl who was gaping slightly.

Kakashi was still wearing his mask, but clad in a grey sweatshirt and black sweat pants. His lanky form screamed out at her that he either was lacking in nutrition, or going on a diet.

She picked the former.

" I'm taking the couch."

" What?!"

Kakashi had stridden midway to the old looking, weathered couch, when he turned his head and raised a silver eyebrow. " It's improper."

" W-well, I know that!"

" We're teammates, aren't we not?"

" Yes, but-"

" End of discussion," Kakashi interrupted her, threw a pillow against one of the armrests, and plopped onto the couch."

Sakura realized she wasn't going to have her way, and muttered softly while heading into the bedroom.

* * *

It was one in the morning, and the black haired girl flopped onto her stomach. She wasn't going to get any sleep if this kept up; it was already strange that she was sleeping in Kakashi's bed.

The scent wasn't helping either.

_Damn, and I just had to love cinnamon! _

Scowling, Sakura kicked off the covers, and lay outstretched, feeling the summer breeze from the open window assault her skin.

It was moments later, while she was lost in her thoughts that she started to hear someone talking.

" Don't…father…don't…"

She blinked, and sat up, wondering if this apartment was ghosted. With that thought, her face blanched.

A strangled yell was heard, and she quickly decided it wasn't a ghost. Sakura raced out of the bedroom, and saw the figure on the couch withering in what seemed to her was pain.

Sakura slowly approached the couch, and saw Kakashi clutching the blankets tightly that there were spots of red on them, his eyes squinted so tightly shut, and his jaw as clenched tightly.

" Kakashi, Kakashi!" She tried to arouse him from his nightmare, nearly getting herself whacked by a flailing arm in the process. Another shoved did the trick, as Kakashi suddenly shot up, his eyes wide and sweat lined his skin and face. The moonlight shone through the window, basking both of them in its glow.

The silver haired teen seemed to have realized there was another person beside him, for he abruptly shoved Sakura's hands from his shoulders.

" Don't touch me," he hissed darkly, scooting away from her, and pulling the blankets closer.

It was then that Sakura realized that the silver haired jounin's eye weren't black as she used to think they were; instead, they were the oddest, and darkest shade of deep brown. And they were filled with grief, despair….

" And why not?" Sakura asked quietly, not expecting him to answer her. He never really did anyway.

It was after a lapse of silence, when Kakashi did finally straightened out his breathing pattern, that he spoke, " I don't need anyone pitying me."

Pity? 

_You call this pity?!_

" Pity?" She voiced her thoughts, " This is called concerning, Kakashi! Concern for a teammate!"

Kakashi's eye darkened considerably, " I don't need _concern." _His voice dropped a few notches, as if talking to himself, " They never cared anyway."

_They…never cared? _

After learning of Kakashi's childhood, during the fateful mission to Kanabi Bridge, Sakura had slightly understood more about why he acted like a stuck up brat.

_Kakashi-sensei's a lot like Sasuke-kun…_

And it was hard to imagine seeing the silver haired teen in front of her turning into the porn-novel addict. Really hard.

" You don't have to go through this alone," Sakura whispered softly, sitting down onto a vacant spot on the couch. This notion alone caused Kakashi to scoot away even more, and she realized that he had both of his eyes open, mismatched orbs staring intently at her, gauging her every move.

He snorted in distaste, lowering his eyes, " You wouldn't understand."

" Try me."

Kakashi looked up, Obito's Sharingan swirling slowly.

" I wouldn't understand." Sakura started, " But it's not only you who's suffering! Arashi-sensei might not show it, even after Obito and Rin's death, but he cared for them didn't he? You know that, you've been with them longer than I have. Look at Genma, and everybody else in yo-our year! And Rin's mother…" she paused, " And me."

Mismatched eyes glowered angrily into emerald ones. " What do you know about it? The guilt? The suffering! Most of my life, I've been overshadowed by my father's mistake, his mistake became mine! Them! Obito and Rin! They're dead because of me!" His breathing became heavy, as if he had ran thousands of miles, " Obito…he died because he pushed me out of the way…if only I had listened to him from the start…and Rin! If I persuaded Arashi-sensei to assign me to her team…she wouldn't be dead! I…"

Kakashi closed his eye, the Sharingan eye, as tears slowly leaked out of it. " I let Obito down. I broke our promise…I didn't protect Rin…" All through the emotional outburst, Kakashi's dark brown eye remained dry.

Sakura sat there, staring in shock and bewilderment at Kakashi's confession. This would be probably the first and only time Sakura actually saw him like this.

He suddenly slumped forward, his forehead colliding against Sakura's shoulder, pulling her out of her thoughts.

" Kakashi…?"

It was seconds after that Sakura realized he was asleep.

On top of her.

_**Well, you have to admit, he IS kinda cute…when he's not scowling though**_. The traitorous part of her mind chided.

_No, I can't be thinking that! I'm loyal to only Sasuke-kun! My only love!_

_**Really. **_

Even as Sakura persuaded herself that the Uchiha really is her only love, it occurred to her that…

Those words seemed so empty now, so different from the way she used to say them almost a year ago.

Sakura leaned against the couch, Kakashi's head resting against her shoulder, sleeping peacefully. Probably the first time in many weeks.

_I wonder how Kakashi managed to pull through the first time…_

Closing her eyes, Sakura expelled a deep sigh.

_Kakashi-sensei…you won't be alone this time around._

* * *

A/N: Hm, a kind of sappy ending for this chapter. But I like it. Starting from next chapter, more KakaSaku moments, and their friendship grows! (Uh, no. No romance. None. Zip. Nada.) If you thought Kakashi was OOC in this chapter, you're not the only one. But I think I have a nice reason and explanation for it. First of all, he has entered what we call the 'puberty'. Yes, we've all been through that, (and I'm still experiencing it. Damned mood swings.) and even though we all know that Kakashi's the master of hiding his emotions..but this is chibi-Kakashi we're talking about. Yes, he may have a mask for the day, masking his emotions, but that doesn't mean he can't break down at night. Sakura has changed, too. And it WILL affect the future once she gets back.

And things are changing between Kakashi and Sakura. Since Arashi's the Hokage, and his other teammates are dead, he feels obliged to protect Sakura even more, like he had promised Obito before. Why? He neglected Sakura before, choosing to protect Rin instead. He feels guilty now, and…shoot I typed too much. (Scowls)

Oh yeah, good news. (takes a big breath.) EXAMS ARE FUCKING OVER!

Expect more updates from me (cackles)


	14. Aftermath Arc: Kakashi: Chapter 14

Rewind

Aftermath Arc: Kakashi

Chapter 14

(A/N: This chapter will be jumping from Kakashi to Sakura's views. Don't get confused) Ages: Kaka,Saku/ 13, Obi,Rin/14

* * *

Kakashi groaned in his half-awake state, when the bright dawn sunlight attacked his sleepy eyes. Rolling away, away from the window, and faced the wall. It was too early for this. Too early, by his standards of course.

…

He sat up suddenly, wide awake, and in his bed. Not couch. But his bed.

_What? I thought…_

Rubbing his eyes, and threw off his shuriken covers, Kakashi wobbled to the bathroom.

_It's too early for this…_

Splashing cold water to his face, Kakashi rubbed at Obito's eye, it was itching again. His mind played with the idea of sleepwalking to his bed last night, as he exited the bathroom to pull on his day clothes. Though, Kakashi knew he wasn't one to sleepwalk, or otherwise he'd be already dead on countless missions.

_So who dragged my sorry ass to my own bed? Sachiko?_

Kakashi stopped in mid-pull of his black pants, both mismatched eyes narrowing dangerously as the events of last night came back to him at a startling speed.

"_I don't need anyone pitying me."_

"_Pity? This is called concerning, Kakashi! Concern for a teammate!"_

"_But it's not only you who's suffering! Arashi-sensei might not show it, even after Obito and Rin's death, but he cared for them didn't he? You know that, you've been with them longer than I have. Look at Genma, and everybody else in yo-our year! And Rin's mother…" she paused, "And me." _

Those wide, emerald eyes that spoke too much of the truth, stared into his mismatched, haunted ones in his mind's eye.

"_I let Obito down. I broke our promise…I didn't protect Rin…"_

Kakashi finished with his clothing, and tied his hiate-ate around his head, then almost reluctantly, he pulled the left side of the cloth to cover his-no, Obito's Sharingan.

_It was never mine to begin with. I should have never accepted that gift. _

He wondered how he would face his only teammate today; no doubt she'd probably be unnerved by his unintentional outburst last night.

Every night, since that fateful mission, since Obito's death…since Rin's...it would replay in his dreams over and over again, like a damaged video tape.

Obito would accuse him for robbing his Sharingan. Rin would blame him for not being there when she needed him the most.

Shoving away the dark thoughts, Kakashi desperately ignored the warm, tell-tale feeling in his left eye. Tears would come next if he didn't will himself enough not to cry. Exiting his room, Kakashi found out that Sachiko wasn't in his apartment, and for that, he was quite relieved.

_Training…something to occupy my mind with…_

Kakashi didn't realize, as he left his apartment, that last night was probably the first, well slept night in many, many months.

* * *

"_What do you know about it? The guilt? The suffering! Most of my life, I've been overshadowed by my father's mistake, his mistake became mine! Them! Obito and Rin! They're dead because of me!" His breathing became heavy, as if he had ran thousands of miles, " Obito…he died because he pushed me out of the way…if only I had listened to him from the start…and Rin! If I persuaded Arashi-sensei to assign me to her team…she wouldn't be dead! I…"_

Sakura sighed, sinking to her feet from mental fatigue. Even though she was training, something she rarely did before, before she was sent into the past, Sakura couldn't feel the exhaustion like before. The gentle wind caressed her face, her hair blowing lightly alone with it. Lying on the grass, facing the slowly brightening sky, Sakura would seem peaceful to another's eyes. But her thoughts weren't.

"_They never cared."_

_They, as in who? _She wondered, thoughts in turmoil.

"Sachiko?" Startled, Sakura whipped around to face an emotionless-masked Kakashi, who was kneeling beside her, regarding her with his eye.

"Kakashi!" Sakura muttered, "Startled me there…"

He nodded, grunting in response. They remained in the same position for a while, before Kakashi opened his mouth to speak softly.

"About last night…." He was cut off with Sakura shaking her head.

"Forget it. You weren't exactly…in the right mind, so to speak, last night…" Sakura muttered, looking away from the teen, and edging uncomfortably from the proximity. It was just her luck that Kakashi hasn't mastered the art of reading one's actions.

Yet.

* * *

_Not in the right mind, eh? _Kakashi mentally snorted, it was true, the lack of sleep that had been going on for months had caught up to him, and that dream…

"_Kakashi…you promised me…you didn't…keep...Rin-chan…safe…"_

Guilt stabbed at him, his heart ached.

_I will this time. I won't fail._

A newfound determination shone in his eye, as he stood up and held out a hand to Sachiko, who looked at it questionably.

"Come on, let's keep training?"

The girl smiled, and took his hand.

* * *

Throughout the training session, Sakura noticed Kakashi's behavior had somewhat changed. Before Obito's death, he was stiff to everybody on Team Arashi. After, Kakashi had loosened up a bit, and promptly disappeared from her life altogether before Sakura even noticed any changes. (Though she wondered if it was around that time that Kakashi started to pick up Obito's lateness, and lame excuses too.)

Now? He talked. Talked! Rarely did he talk, in any one's presence. It wasn't like Naruto's or Obito's constant ramblings, it was kind of like Sasuke's nature when he talked, it was of utter importance, and the future Kakashi in her time. They talked in between punches and kicks, they talked about the nearest armor shop in the village, (Kakashi had vehemently said that the owner of that particular shop was a hairy, lack of hygiene, bulky man. He avoided that shop at all costs.)

Needless to say, Sakura was rather unnerved. She sure didn't know what to think about this new change, delighted? Uneasy?

"Oomph!" Lost in her thoughts, Sakura found herself wondering why the ground had come up so fast to meet her face.

A shadow blocked the mid-morning sun, casting a silhouette over her. "You're distracted." Came the rather blunt retort.

"Hm, yeah." Sakura muttered, dazed, as she plucked herself off the dirt, and stared in mild fascination at her Sakura-shaped impression in the dirt.

"A rest then?"

"Sure."

Kakashi sat onto a grassy patch next to her, and Sakura vaguely noticed he was sitting closer than before.

**What are his intentions! Does he even know what he's doing to us?! **

Inner Sakura was peeved. Badly.

_Probably not, Kakashi-sensei was never good at socializing, even as an adult. What makes us think that he'll be better in his youth?_

"About last night, I want to apologize." Kakashi murmured from beside her, making Sakura jump slightly.

**Damn, he has a deep voice.**

_...He matured pretty fast…I wonder how his voice sounded like before it broke?_

The two Sakuras pondered on this, before Inner Sakura cracked up.

**Imagine him! Squeaky voice shouting out, 'Chidori!' **

An image of a squeaky voiced Kakashi thrusting out his signature move at an enemy, shouting, and failing to even appear frightening popped up in her mind.

Sakura quickly hid her undignified snort as a cough.

"For what?"

"For falling asleep on you."

**Ever the tactless one. Tactless! **

"Oh." Sakura blinked. "It's…nothing…"

Skeptical, Kakashi didn't continue on badgering her.

It was another moment of silence, before Kakashi slumped his shoulders, and grumbled something incoherently.

Having to lean towards the teen to hear clearly, Sakura asked, "What?"

A pause. "I said…we're teammates, right?" Kakashi asked, quite tentative, which was something Sakura had yet to see or hear.

What a weird question to ask.

"Of course."

"Then…are we friends then?"

Sakura looked up sharply, not quite believing what she heard.

**He's asking us whether we're friends or not.**

"Well…"Sakura muttered, "I don't really think so…" She completely missed the swift glimpse of disappointment in Kakashi's dark brown eye, as she watched her sandaled feet, "We were always just teammates. Just."

"Ah."

There was another awkward silence, as Sakura rolled what had just been conversed between them in her mind.

**Isn't that cute? He's shy! **

_Please…just shut up._

"Canwebefriendsthen?" It was spoken so fast that Sakura could have sworn Kakashi was trying out a new tongue-twister.

…

_**Huh?**_

"Er…what?"

A light rosy hue of red appeared at the tips of Kakashi's mask.

**He's…blushing?**

_Oh god._

"Can…"He seemed to be struggling with his words. "-we be friends?"

Sakura blinked rapidly, as Kakashi looked away, and seemed to find a patch of grass interesting.

The words that left the teen's mouth from last night made reappearance in her mind…

"_They never cared."_

_Does this mean…that he was alone…always alone….since his father's death?_

"Well...sure!" Sakura started, somewhat aware that a smile was slowly appearing on Kakashi's face, beneath the black mask.

"Thanks…" He murmured, and it suddenly occurred to Sakura that she well may be the first friend Hatake Kakashi had ever acquired.

**This looks like a start of a beautiful friendship!**

_Shut. Up._

* * *

Ever since Kakashi's unique personality making its appearance, it rarely did rear its head after that day. Though, he started to become relaxed in her presence only, gazing at her with lazy eyes, and towards others, he had an air of indifference.

Sakura had consulted with Arashi a few days after that, and she was met with a raise of eyebrows that skyrocketed to his hairline.

* * *

"_He said that, huh." Arashi murmured, propping up his chin with his hand. _

"_I don't think you've met this side of Kakashi before, haven't you?" Sakura asked, and the Yondaime nodded._

"_Kakashi had always been a stubborn one, a preacher of rules, even before Sakumo-san's death. It was after his death that he clung onto the Shinobi Code with his life." _

_Sakura slowly took in this new information, tucking it away into a folder in her mind marked as, "Kakashi-sensei,"_

"_What was he like…before?" Sakura murmured, she hoped the Yondaime wouldn't be mad at her for prying through her teammate's life._

_Yondaime seemed to be in a faraway place then, his brilliant sky-blue eyes twinkled, reflective of the past._

"_Kakashi looked up to his father, a lot. As an idol of sorts. It was after Sakumo-san's decision on that mission that he started to change. The village declared him as a failure, and it was around that time the starting of the Third Shinobi Wars begun. Some say that it was because of him, that the war started. Soon after Sakumo-san committed seppuku, backstabbed by his teammates, the ones that he saved, the council…the village…his friends…By then, probably the only few people who still remained in contact with him were his own son, the Hokage and his students..."_

"_What about you?"_

_Yondaime let out a bark of a laugh, "Me?" his tone sounded bitter. "I was his son's teacher, our relationship was clearly only professional. But…it was hard. Hard watching him fall from his great status of Konoha's famous White Fang…to a depressed, suicidal, hated man." _

_Sakura remained silent, she had heard stories of the White Fang in her own childhood days, but she never imagined…_

"_A few years after his father's death, I took up two other students, Obito and Rin. Both had been newly made chuunins at that time, and Kakashi was already an experienced one. Kakashi neglected them, treating Obito badly, and somewhat tolerating Rin's presence…I thought it would do him some good, it wouldn't do if Kakashi started to isolate himself…"_

Kakashi sensei…

"_Sakura." Yondaime suddenly spoke, "Keep Kakashi close. You're…probably the first real friend that he ever had…"_

_Emerald eyes widened. "What!" _

_A rueful smile tugged at the blond Kage's lips, "As a genius child, son of the White Fang, Kakashi had been…neglected since entering the Academy at the tender age of four...I think you would know how it would be like, treated as an inferior just because he was better than all of them."_

'_Four…four years old…' _

Kakashi-sensei…just…what are you exactly?

* * *

Of course, after Arashi's rather lengthy explanation, Sakura started to look up to Kakashi, for more that just, 'he's the Copy-Ninja, and he's my sensei!'. For what he was, and for the deaths in his past, how he pulled through even to this day…

And the scarecrow's generation started to notice the two appearing in public together, either at Ichiraku's, or sparring together at the training fields.

And of course, rumors started to spread through the village like wildfire, and soon got everyone wondering, 'just what kind of relationship both of them has?'

* * *

"_Look at them! They're like glued to the hip!" Kurenai prodded her two teammates, Asuma, and a somewhat reproachful poke to the spandex clad chuunin, Gai. They were sitting in a cozy spot in a coffee shop, watching Kakashi and Sachiko move through the streets outside. The jounin was slouching, looking rather aloof, but had placed a hand to his companion's back, as if guiding her through the crowd._

"_Kakashi-san has finally embraced his spring-time of youthfulness!" _

_Asuma snorted, while Shizune, current apprentice to the Slug Sannin, Tsunade, moved over to Kurenai to gossip, "I haven't seen Kakashi-san like that, even with Rin while they were dating. Is it somehow possible that…they're…" She started to make figurative hand motions, "-an item?"_

_The ruby eyed kunoichi wrinkled her nose, "Sachiko made a rather lengthy explanation that both of them were only 'friends' days ago.."_

"_Really.."  
_

"_Hm."_

_Needless to say, the two continued on watching the scene unravel before their very eyes._

"_I heard they're living together…"Asume muttered._

"_WHAT?!"_

* * *

For the next few weeks into early September, Sakura frequently visited the Uchiha compound, playing with Itachi, and Sasuke from time to time. It was rather unnerving that Sakura found herself liking the weasel boy. She often wondered what drove him to kill off his whole clan…

* * *

_Itachi looked up from his ice-cream cone, a small gift after his training with the clan head, bought by Sakura herself. He gave a wide, disarming smile._

_Jeeze, Sakura had thought, as Inner Sakura fainted from the overdose of 'chibi-ness'. If Sasuke-kun could see him now…_

* * *

It was already September, when Sakura learned of her sensei's birthday. It was all an accident, really…Courtesy of the Yondaime…

Kakashi really didn't know what hit him on September fifteenth.

* * *

A/N: Gack! 10 pages! I think…Hoped you like Anyway, I've realized that Rewind's timeline is all warped, and until I've finished with this story, I won't go back to revise it. If you find anything wrong in the earlier chapters, please inform me. 


	15. Aftermath Arc: Kakashi: Chapter 15

Rewind

Aftermath Arc: Kakashi

Chapter 15

(A/N: I think I went overboard on this chapter…I really tried to find a decent place to stop…really.)

* * *

"_She's an acting chuunin?" Kakashi asked, a brief look of surprise crossed through his eye, before it was gone again. Yondaime sat behind his wooden desk which had piles of paperwork, _

"_Yes, acting chuunin. This will be her first mission in many months," The Yondaime's voice dropped a few notches, "Keep her safe, Kakashi."_

_The silver teen stiffened, before giving a curt nod, "I will."_

_At this moment, there was a knock on the double office door, "Come in," The Hokage called, and the doors opened._

"_You called for me, Hokage-sama?" It was Sachiko, and she looked fairly amused when the blond Kage's face turned bright red, from anger or embarrassment…_

"_Don't. Call. Me. That." _

"_If you say so, Hokage-sama!" _

_Sighing, Arashi ignored the bright smile on her face, "I have a mission for both of you, it's a simple one. Both of you will be acting as bodyguards for a wealthy lord heading back to his home village today. I expect good behavior from you," Blue eyes regarded both of them._

"_Hai, Hokage-sama!" The two chorused, whether to spite Arashi, he didn't want know. _

"_**I told you, don't call me that!"**_

_And later on that day, one could see the Yondaime barking out orders like a rabid dog whenever anybody called him, "Hokage-sama"._

* * *

And thus, Sakura and Kakashi found themselves trudging after a chariot that was decorated in bright colors, a sore thumb in the middle of the forest.

_All that blasted thing needs is a neon sign blinking on the roof with the words, 'come rob me!' _

A snort was heard, causing Sakura to glance at her companion. Kakashi's lower masked part of his face was twitching, and Sakura could see the faint lines of a smirk.

"Eh?"

"You were speaking out loud."

"Oh."

Blushing slightly, Sakura quickly sped up, avoiding the now stoic faced jounin.

_It's not fair! My plans for Kakashi's birthday are all ruined! RUINED I TELL YOU! _

Sakura sighed, there went her plans…all….gone….

**But those plans weren't really that great. Admit it. It's just a simple party for both of ya. And…wouldn't it be really conspicuous for you? I mean…all those rumors…didn't we hear one that Kakashi got you pregnant even?**

She blanched, not happy memories. It had been several days after moving in with Kakashi, Gai, still clad in his eye-popping green spandex outfit, approached them on the streets looking very teary eyed. He embraced the silver haired teen, making him scowl dangerously, while Gai continued on his, 'Kakashi! You have finally embraced your youthfulness! But I must say, you didn't have to go and deflower Sachiko-chan…' speech...

Gai was rewarded with a gasp from Sakura and a punch to the face from Kakashi. Asuma, Kurenai, Shizune and Genma stood a good distance away, watching the (unfortunate) Green Beast of Konoha be beaten to the ground by a mortified, murderous black haired acting chuunin.

After a few stops to quench the horses' thirst, the group headed off again, and it was then that Sakura realized their employer was a first-rate pervert.

She was walking near the window of the chariot, when their employer, Lord Watanabe, stuck his head out, with a somewhat perverted grin on his handsome face. Hazel orbs glinted mischievously, as he propped up his chin with his palm.

"So, what's your name?"

…_Is this some kind of lame pickup line? _

**I sure hope not.**

"Sachiko," Sakura replied, slowly inching away from the lord. He smiled, "Why is it, that a pretty little girl like you, a ninja?"

Sakura vaguely felt her companion's presence beside her, and it was probably because of him that Lord Watanabe quickly scooted into the chariot, the window shutting with a sharp snap. Turning to face Kakashi, she pointedly raised an eyebrow; in return, she received a curving of his eye.

_And of course, the whole road to the village turned out to be a-okay. Except for the…suggestive comments Lord Watanabe gave me once in a while…(and was promptly scared away by a pissed off Kakashi.) I have to admit, having Kakashi as a friend had its perks…_

_He remained stoic as ever to anyone else, but he sometimes let down that mask whenever it was only us alone…_

"Sachiko-chan, what do you think of your companion? He's acting like as if there's a stick stuck up in his ass." Watanabe murmured over his meal by the fire. It was evening, and Sakura was currently cursing the gods above for making this damnable mission take this long.

Sakura, however, gave Watanabe a sweet smile, _he'll never know what hit him…Kakashi can hear everything what you're saying…_

"I'm going to fill my canteen," Came an abrupt murmur, saving Sakura from responding the pervert's questions.

Later on that night, Sakura pondered why Kakashi seemed to make daily trips to the river. ("**Bad bladder?**" Inner Sakura had inquired.)

The next morning, Lord Watanbe was wondering why his bags had gained weight. (And why most of them were wet.)

* * *

The traveling group reached the Lord's village by mid morning, and Sakura was faintly surprised by the amount of people out.

"Is this some kind of festival?" Sakura asked their employer. She didn't dislike him, seriously. It was just his perverted behavior killed any thoughts that she held for him.

And there wasn't a lot to think about him either.

Watanbe nodded, a smile danced on his lips, "It's the start of the Harvesting season here, and our village celebrates the start and the ending of the season, a gift to the gods, to pray for a good harvest."

"Ah."

Nodding to the posts at the gates of the village, Watanabe continued, "Scarecrows are considered sacred here, you'd find a lot of merchandises of them here at our village."

Sakura had to stifle her laughter when she saw the look of downright mortification on Kakashi's face. Er, I mean eye.

"Sacred?"

"Indeed."

Throughout the tour of the village, mint orbs danced with mirth. And a silver haired teen scowled at every plush-made scarecrow that happened to be in his line of vision.

"Kakashi! You know it's cute." Sakura couldn't resist poking fun of her friend's namesake. His expressions were just too predicable…and dare she say it, cute?

**You're calling Hatake Kakashi cute. Cute.**** Cute! ****With a capital C! **

The poor, unfortunate soul glared darkly at the merchant who dared to stick the _**god-damnable **_plush into his face.

"Kind-sir! Would you like a scarecrow plush? It's available only in our village!"

Sakura quickly pushed the Hatake out of the way before he could spout any vulgar threats, and paid the merchant the money. "Two plushies, thanks!"

"Thank you, kind-ma'm!" And then he was off, pushing his cart and calling out 'who wants a scarecrow plush!'

Pissed off, annoyed, and probably hungry, if her calculations were correct, it was already nearing evening, (How fast time passes by when you're having fun!) and it was probably because of that, Kakashi's patience was wearing thin. Very, very thin.

And it occurred to Sakura, future, adult-Kakashi was the epitome of patience; nothing seemed to be able to annoy the unflappable Copy Nin.

But not Kakashi in his youth.

As if forgetting his inner demons, and the cruelty of the world they lived in, just for this very moment, Kakashi turned away, crossing his arms over his chest and started to scowl. Deeply.

"That's what they always say," Sakura heard the faint mutterings of the future Copy Ninja, and then the next thing she knew, she was trying to stifle her laughter by stuffing a fist into her mouth. In a high pitch squeak, mimicking the merchant that had sold them the **god-damnable **plush, Kakashi continued on with his 'childish' tirade, "It's available only in our village!" And then his voice turned back to normal, Damned scarecrows, there's **nothing** cute about them. **Absolutely nothing!**"

Sakura grinned and shoved one of said plushies into Kakashi's arms. "Here." She was rewarded with a death glare.

"What- why are you giving me this?"

With a sweet smile, Sakura turned away, "Consider that as a birthday gift!"

Appalled, Kakashi could only wonder where, and when, did his friend learned of his birthday, and it was today no less!

Nevertheless, the young jounin kept the (**god-damnable) **plush, but at arms length for the remainder of the night.

* * *

The silver haired teen kept up a stoic mask for the night, hands stuffed in his pockets, slouching, and glaring at every single scarecrow plush that happened to be in his line of vision. Which was…almost everywhere in the festival; stuck on roofs, carts where merchants sold souvenirs, restaurants used them as props, children hugging them, scarecrow hats…an-and by god! A scarecrow lollipop!

"Just unwind a bit, Kakashi!" Sakura nudged him, causing him to scowl even more viciously, scaring off a cute couple near them. "And stop scowling."

"I'm not scowling." He muttered, "I'm frowning."

Rolling her eyes, Sakura kept a grin to herself, it seemed like Kakashi was relaxing, even if he didn't notice. Rarely did he make any comments; he usually remained silent or grunted in reply…

"Damnit, they're fucking _everywhere!" _

And whenever he was in a foul mood, Kakashi tended to criticize almost anything around him, whether good or bad.

It was one of the very few perks Sakura learned about him during the evening together, and she couldn't help but feel proud that she knew more about Kakashi than her teammates. (More than his own friends, perhaps?)

Quickly giving the money for a scarecrow hat to the merchant when Kakashi wasn't looking, Sakura silently placed the hat onto his sad excuse for a mop of hair…

"**What the hell?"**

Snarling almost dangerously, Sakura knew she was on a thin line with the young Sharingan user. Innocently, she chirped, "What?"

Kakashi's eye narrowed, and lorded a thumb at his head, "What is this?"

"Just introducing you to your inner scarecrow."

…

"Inner….Scarecrow."

"Yup!"

Needless to say, Sakura found herself sucking on a disgusting flavored lollipop that Kakashi had oh so 'kindly' bought for her. (If only he didn't shove it up her mouth so violently. But then again, she HAD been testing his patience for most of the night.)

* * *

"I was never a party animal to begin with." Kakashi muttered under his breath as he and Sachiko stepped out from the busy streets, the festivities still going on. It was a small park, where they were heading, couples strolled around, chatting softly and gushing, flirting at whatever was said.

This caused Kakashi to scowl, and he deeply regretted coming here. Beside him, he faintly noticed his companion was smiling.

"I wish he and I were like them…" Sakura muttered, still watching a couple cuddle each other.

"He and you?" Jumping slightly, Sakura realized Kakashi was still beside her, holding the scarecrow plush, and looking rather intently at her. (The hat had been discarded when Kakashi couldn't take it any more; too many people were trying to take pictures with them. Kakashi couldn't stand being called, 'The Scarecrow guy' anymore by the little demons-I mean…children.)

"Urm."

"Who's the 'he?"

Sakura pondered on this, to tell him or not?

_Be discreet. He won't notice anything…will he? Especially once we get back into our own time…_

**Don't mention any names…**

"Well…'he' is a really cute guy, although a bit cold to others…but I like him a lot." Sakura spoke, a mental image of Sasuke popping up in her mind.

**Good grief I thought you were going to say something more-wait, we're not blushing! WE'RE NOT (#&!($(!& BLUSHING!**

Sakura didn't notice Kakashi sending her a very, very blank look. A mixture of unreadable emotions swirled in his lone eye, the pink haired girl remained oblivious while she continued to debate with her inner self.

Almost like a robot, the silver haired jounin turned mechanical-like on his heels and trudged towards the festivals again. Sakura stood there, a bit in shock, before quickly hurrying after him.

"Kakashi! Wait, Kakashi!"

He didn't turn around, and quickly disappeared into the crowds, leaving Sakura alone.

* * *

_Why am I acting like this? _

Kakashi's scowl became even deeper, causing a little girl near him with large violet eyes to squeak out in horror. She quickly scrambled away, crying out, 'Mommy! That guy is so scary!' But Kakashi paid no heed, he continued on his way, glaring at merchants whenever he had the chance.

_I'm in total control of my emotions…aren't I? What is this feeling…I feel like I want to beat that guy Sachiko likes into a bloody, bleeding pulp._

The silver haired teen clenched his fists, only to stop when he realized he was squeezing something soft and plushy.

Holding up the scarecrow plushie Sachiko had bought for him earlier the evening, Kakashi's anger dampened. (Only slightly, he was still trying to figure out this new 'feeling'.) In the dim lights that the lanterns gave hung up near the roofs, Kakashi stood there, in the middle of the bustling crowd, holding the plushie. Snorting softly, he stuffed the plush into his pocket, before stalking off.

_Leaving Sachiko alone wasn't a good idea._

* * *

Sakura sat on a bench in the same park, a small distance away where Kakashi had (rudely) left her.

_What's gotten into him? He doesn't usually act like that…unless he's pissed off or was forced to attend a meeting early._

Sighing, Sakura dug out a small wrapped up box from her pack, its deep red wrapping paper reflecting the light as she turned it absently.

_Even though this was supposed to be his promotion gift all those months ago…I should get him a different gift then. _

Standing up, Sakura shoved the gift into her backpack again before quietly, not to disturb the happy couples and slipping unnoticed into the crowds again, hoping to find a decent shop. Along the way, she muttered softly, 'I totally doubt he'll like necklaces anyway…'

She didn't notice Kakashi stepping into the clearing again, only to blink at the unoccupied space where Sakura had been seating only moments before.

The only thing on Kakashi's mind right there was, _damn._

* * *

As Sakura wandered around, politely declining offers of nice souvenirs shoved her way, she finally found a weapons shop that just sat near a dark corner. People passed by, some occasionally stopping to peer through the window.

_Weapons…perfect for that work-a-holic. _Sakura mused, chuckling lightly before skipping into the shop.

"Kind-ma'm! Welcome to my shop, we have various kinds of weapons here!" The man behind the counter happily chirped, probably because she was one of the very few people who actually bothered coming in here?

Nodding politely, Sakura looked around; there were swords, katanas, various types of shields and daggers lined the walls and glass cages.

Something small, shiny and black caught her eye, and she approached the glass case. Inside was a short sword, though it was too short to be considered as a sword, yet too long to be called a dagger.

"Ah, that's a kodachi. It used to belong to a very wealthy clan in a land north of Shinobi Continent." The salesman spoke, walking over to the case with a small smile. He tapped on the case, and spoke, "See that markings on the case? And the wolf carving at the handle? It was the clan's signature, they were known as…hmm. I think it was the Li Clan or something like that," He rubbed his bearded chin in deep thought.

"Because of its size, the kodachi can be drawn swiftly and quickly, it can also be used as a shield." The man continued on, and Sakura was quickly gaining interest in the sword.

Sakura asked, "How much is it?"

The man smiled, "Since you're the first customer today who actually gave interest in my shop, I'll sell it to you cheaper. 3000 ryo."

She blanched, it was still expensive…

"Fine, I'll take it."

_And there goes my savings…_

* * *

Kakashi gave a very low growl, he wasn't pleased. In fact, he was annoyed.

"Aww, what a cute ninja!" Gushed a group of woman with large busts. They were sitting on the stands in front of a small inn, and most of them were scantly dressed, and their faces were adorned with a hideous amount of makeup.

Glaring at them for a split second, Kakashi turned on his heels swiftly and walked off.

_Find Sachiko…Find Sachiko…Find Sachiko…Find Sachiko…Find Sachiko….don't look at that food cart, stay away from the food cart, shut up my stomach! _

"Hee-hee, the little ninja's shy!" The mob of woman cooed loudly as Kakashi quickly retreated from that part of the road.

_I'm not shy. I'm pissed. They better shut up before I Chidori them._

As he asked several people if they had seen a black haired girl with emerald eyes, Kakashi realized that there were a handful of black haired women in this village…

Scowling again for the umpteenth time tonight, Kakashi went into the nearest, dark alley to slip a scroll from his pouch.

Staring at the scroll in his hand, he never really liked using it. He found the scroll in his father's study, he had only been able to summon a few of the ninken; his father didn't have a lot of dogs under his belt.

It had taken a few years, after his father's death, that Kakashi took in several week-old pups and raised them. Though, one of them, a small pug, was the only dog out of the entire pack that could speak.

Smiling slightly, Kakashi mused _it's been a while since I last summoned them…_

He recalled using those months ago, during a mission…which saved Rin's life-

_Don't go there. _Mentally sighing, Kakashi bit his thumb, made the handseals, and slammed an open palm to the ground, shouting out, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A loud poof was heard, engulfing him with smoke. Something bit his leg lightly, and Kakashi shook it, prying off the 'thing.'

"Pakkun, don't. I'm already annoyed."

The smoke dispersed, and Pakkun peered up at Kakashi. "What's gotten to you?"

And then wagging his eyebrows, "A girl, perhaps?"

He received a dark scowl, and Pakkun quickly muttered, "Never mind…"

Kakashi sighed, his face was starting to go numb from all the scowling. _When was the last time I scowled this much?_

….

_When Obito was still…._

Frowning, Kakashi quickly retrieved a kunai from his pouch, "This is Sachiko's kunai, and could you smell her out for me?"

The pug sniffed it, before yapping and taking off to a random direction. Blinking rapidly, Kakashi quickly sprinted after it.

* * *

Sakura was wandering in the streets, a bag in hand with the kodachi she bought for Kakashi. After moments later, she realized she was very much lost.

_I really wish I have those kind of tracking ninken…_

"You smell nice." Giving a startled yelp, Sakura quickly scanned her surroundings, looking for the source of the voice. She couldn't help but think the voice sounded familiar…

"Down here!" She looked down, and a brown little pug with the Konoha hiate-ate was looking up at her, wagging his tail happily. _Oh god, it's him!_

A soft _'pad' _was heard, and she turned to find herself face to face with a very droopy-eyed Kakashi.

"Kakashi, you owe me treats next time," The pug muttered before disappearing in a plum of smoke.

Sakura gave a weak smile, while Kakashi continued on staring at her, his eye unreadable.

"You ran off on me," Was his blunt accuse after a few moments of silence. Appalled, Sakura scowled at him, "Me? I ran off on you?" Stepping forward, she snarled angrily into his face, "You were the one who suddenly disappeared and didn't come back!"

Standing his ground, Kakashi shot back, "You didn't have to run off,"

"I so did not run off! I went to buy a gift for you!" A pale eyebrow shot up to the hairline, and Sakura mentally berated herself for giving out the surprise.

_So much for surprising him._

"A gift? I thought…" Kakashi looked rather bewildered, as if presents didn't come his way often. Which was what Sakura kind of expected; after all, he did live by himself for most of this childhood…

And then she totally doubted a man of reputation like Hatake Sakumo would appear in some odd toy store or something to buy a gift for his son…who was no older than a toddler at that time maybe?

Huffing, Sakura spoke, "That plush didn't count. At all."

The silver haired jounin remained quiet, as Sakura fingered the red box in her pocket, and the bag in her hand.

"So, here it is," She muttered softly, wondering why she went so shy in a matter of seconds. Handing over the bag, and quickly shoving the box into Kakashi's hands, Sakura looked away.

"The red box…it was the promotion gift to Jounin I was supposed to give you a while back…but I kind of got sidetracked," Sakura laughed weakly, while Kakashi stared at the items in his hands intently.

"Can…I open it now?" Kakashi's voice was no louder than a weak whisper, and Sakura smiled. "Of course, but…" She nodded to the crowd around them, "Let's go somewhere slightly less crowded."

Along the way back to the park, Sakura couldn't help notice Kakashi's step had a light feeling to it.

The moment they found a vacant bench to sit, Kakashi was already half opening the red box with care, Sakura noticed, that he was careful not to rip the red wrapping paper.

He blinked once he opened the little box, and lifted up a small, round pendent. On the front side, a wolf carved on it, and the back side had the kanji of, 'warrior'.

Setting it on his lap, Kakashi dug into the bag, and brought out the kodachi wrapped in white paper.

"What's this?"

"That's a kodachi," And then Sakura repeated what she had heard from the merchant back at the weapons shop to Kakashi. He remained silent throughout the explanation, and still didn't say anything even after Sakura had finished.

Fidgeting slightly, Sakura asked meekly, "Um…do you like it?"

Kakashi paused, still fingering the short blade, a thoughtful look in his eye, "To tell the truth…I'd rather not accept anything that has to do with my father."

She winced slightly, in truth, Sakura had kind of forgotten about Kakashi's father's blade, which gave him the name, White Fang. Maybe it brought back bad memories…?

"Sorry," Sakura hastily apologized, "I didn't-" Her friend cut her off with a shake of his head, his eye curving up into that familiar yet annoying curve.

"It's alright." Kakashi smiled slightly underneath his mask, "I'll…keep it, and use it I guess."

Smiling again, this time genuine, Sakura gave Kakashi a weak pat on the shoulder, "For a second there, I thought you were going to go all angst on me…"

Sending her a scowl, Kakashi growled, "I don't do angst."

"Of course you do, you just don't do it often. Remember last time?"

"I was caught off-guard."

"Men and their pride…"

"What?"

"Nothing!"

People who would pass by the pair would probably think both of them were an item…good thing they didn't mouth their thoughts. (Otherwise there'd be a few homicides on the newspaper the next morning.)

* * *

A/N: Sorry I didn't update faster/sooner. I'm studying again…(blergh) I really went overboard. Umm….twice the average amount I usually type, that's like….fifteen pages. I couldn't find a decent place to stop apparently. This chapter is…basically filler? A filler chapter. I had to introduce how Kakashi acted around Sakura, and only around Sakura, after the events at his apartment and the whole 'can I be your friend?' thingy. Apparently, I needed to bring this out to make things more realistic after Kakashi's life is turned upside down again…(in a few chapters.) And...Kakashi's a bit dense, isn't he?

So! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and yes, the kodachi Kakashi received will make reappearance in Rewind's sequel…

And I can't resist---

_Next time in Rewind Chapter 16, Sakura and Kakashi head back to Konoha, only to get ambushed by a familiar face. Sakura meets Tsunade, and learns some of her past…_

_Then Konoha's scouts reports of a massive fire that burned down numerous villages at the boarders of Fire Country. And large chakra outbursts...? Could this really be it?_


	16. IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE!

I will say this only once.

_**THIS IS NOT A NEW CHAPTER!**_

Before everybody starts clobbering me with sharp pointy objects, I have an announcement to make. It won't be pretty, and if you can't be bothered with reading what I have to say, just scroll down to the bottom….and read the bold words.

I am very sure a lot of you are well aware that my exams have ended….last month. (May 24 and 25.) You must be wondering why I'm still updating so damned slow. It's because….I'm still studying. Why? The Second 96 Year BC Test (The Basic Competence Test For Junior High School Students) is….24 days away. I applied for Kang Chiao Bilingual School, one of the very few schools I was sure I could get in. But I didn't. All because my grades for First BC Test wasn't high enough. (Damn you Chinese, DAMN YOU!) And so, I'm trying my luck, my patience, and denying a well-deserved vacation I'm supposed to get after my graduation day two weeks ago.

Which is why I'm typing this. I feel guilty, and I'm sure I'll feel even guiltier if I didn't type this. (I can't stand any of my favorite authors leaving us readers just when things are getting juicier, I know how it feels like, and I know you're feeling extremely livid right now.) Since December, 2006, I've been juggling Rewind and my school work, sometimes neglecting my homework and studies to type, and other times I completely engross myself in textbooks. This year has been very hard, so hard in fact, I think I need new glasses. I've been through emotional tantrums, threatening to give everything up (but I didn't. thank god.), and I was so high after the First Test in May, I read manga (Ouran High School Host Club), novels (Stephen King anyone?), and typed Rewind for two weeks straight. And then I received my report card.

**I didn't do well.**

In fact, I messed up in Chinese. I got a decent grade (for me) in Math. I did badly in Science. And apart from English, which I got a full mark for…my other subject that I'm rather good in…well, let's just say I cried in class when I saw my score.

Needless to say, I sent my application to Kang Chiao, hoping that I'd get applied. Which, I didn't. And cried for another day. Right now, my only hope is to get a decent PR 80, a full score in English, a 45 and above for Science and Social Studies (out of 60), and a 30 for both Math and Chinese. Easy right? Nope. Not when you're scribbling answers down on your answer card, sweating like there's no tomorrow, sitting in a non-air conditioned classroom, 30 something degrees Celsius outside…and the fans are blowing warm air into your face. And just add a nice, humongous amount of pressure, knowing this is your last chance, on top.

SO! To keep my notes short- I won't be updating, or touching my computer until July 14, 15. I will ground myself from the Internet. I won't reply to any emails, reviews, until July 15 has passed.

And in that case…once July 15 has passed you can-

**Bombard me with emails, demanding for an update. Just don't send too much, okay? **

**It'll at least get my sorry ass back into gear. After two days of celebrating and another day for sleeping in….**

I've always wanted to finally type the last chapter for Rewind, even before I started writing the first chapter back in 2006. And denying myself of it, I'm angry. Very angry. And disappointed too. I know all of you are too, so….

Sorry. I apologize.

Thank you for reading.

(PS: The sequel for Rewind..is called Fastforward. What I have in planned is 25 chapters, and split in two parts. And of course, there'll be KakaSaku romance. Not friendship :P)


	17. Aftermath Arc: Chapter 16

Please re-read Chapter 1 and 2. I have re-written them, and will continue to do the same to Chapters 3 to 5. And ah…**no romance. Ha.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Edit on 2007.8.3: Thanks to reviewer Seriv, I've edited the parts where I referred Sakura's hair as 'pink' instead of 'black.' I'm still sleepy, I'm afraid that I've missed some parts..  
**

* * *

Rewind

Aftermath Arc: The Ambush

Chapter 16

As Kakashi and Sakura walked away from the town, they could hear the sounds of the Lord's farewells.

"Good bye, my dear bodyguard!" Lord Watanabe called happily from the town's gates. "Come visit us soon!"

Laughing weakly, Sakura shouted her own farewells before jogging to catch up with the silver haired jounin's swift pace. She could see he was itching to get out of here. Grinning, Sakura's thoughts went back two hours prior, when she was forced awake rather rudely. A scowling, peeved masked face was in her line of vision, causing her to suddenly jolt, aware of her surroundings.

"_What?" she demanded, cranky from the abrupt awakening. She then realized Maya, the owner of the room Sakura had bunked in, the lord's daughter, was no where in sight. Her own bed-rolls were neatly stacked beside a cabinet. _

"_We're leaving," Kakashi blandly said. Before Sakura could voice her objections, he quickly left the room. Blinking sleepily, she rolled around beneath her blanket before getting up. _

_Twenty minutes after her daily morning routine, Sakura understood why Kakashi was impatient; the Lord was rambling on and on…about her, unfortunately. Kakashi was standing stiffly, his arms folded against his chest, as the Lord rattled on. _

_Her thoughts traveled back to last night, when Maya had off-handily commented on how she and Kakashi looked like a couple. She had laughed it off, but wondered why there was a disturbing amount of people who had the same idea. (They couldn't all be blind, Sakura tried to reason to herself.)_

_Kakashi's face was fixed in a scowl when Lord Watanabe had practically demanded that they stay for breakfast before leaving. _

"_Please stay for breakfast! I'm sure you'll need energy to travel back, Sachiko-chan!" Lord Watanabe had offered/demanded happily, ushering an unnerved Sakura into a different room, followed by a smiling Maya and a peeved Kakashi. It was nearly half an hour later when the lord finally let them go._

Throughout the whole morning, Lord Watanabe had completely turned a blind eye to Kakashi, always speaking to Sakura directly. His patience had rapidly dwindled to almost nothing. And then the lord just had to shove Sakura's bag into his hands, commenting lightly on how he should be a gentleman. Needless to say, when the two shook hands, the Lord's face screwed up in pain while Kakashi gave his everything-is-just-peachy-eye-smile.

Sakura's lips twitched to a smile as she pushed aside her thoughts. She was staring at Kakashi's back, where the kodachi was strapped. Sakura wondered briefly if he was also wearing the pendant…

* * *

Two figures leaped swiftly from tree to tree, one of them occasionally glancing back over her shoulder, the wind blowing against her black hair. Sakura noticed there were a few pink strands, and hopefully prayed Kakashi's keen eye didn't notice them. 

"Hurry up, Sachiko!" Kakashi hissed from a tree limb further than Sakura's. Frowning, the kunoichi turned and followed, giving a final glance back.

_I could have sworn I heard something… _he thought as they quickly hastened their pace.

It was already near evening, and Kakashi had realized hours ago they were being followed. Their followers were stealthy, but they obviously weren't up to Kakashi's level, for their discretion was unveiled rather quickly.

Stopping for a quick rest, they continued on. After a full hour of traveling, Kakashi motioned Sakura to stop.

"We should be approaching Konoha's forests by now…" he murmured softly, glancing to a tree to their right. Konoha's trees were well known for their great size and the thickness of their bark, but the tree they were near at was smaller, and there were places where bark was peeled off.

_That tree looked familiar, _Sakura thought as she approached the tree, and squinted at the bark. An 'x' was carved on it. She emitted a gasp. There was a grunt from behind her; Kakashi had also seen it.

"It's the same tree…where you carved that 'x' on!" Sakura fixed her emerald eyes on her companion's masked face. "We're going in circles!"

Kakashi frowned, making a few wrinkles in his mask. "A genjutsu" He looked around the area they were in, "Our followers must have a skilled genjutsu-user, then. I would have noticed it by now…"

She could hear the irritated tone in her friend's voice, being a genjutsu type, as the future Kakashi had told her…not noticing the illusion they were in was starting to grate her nerves. Bringing up her hands, Sakura concentrated and formed a hand sign, muttering, "Kai!"

The illusion was dispelled immediately, revealing the Konoha forest they should have been in. A rustle was heard by Kakashi's keen hearing, and before Sakura could turn to face the place where the sound emitted from, she was roughly pushed aside by the jounin. A kunai sounded with a meek "twak," embedding itself deeply in the tree where Sakura had been standing seconds before.

"They're here!" she gasped out, as the silver haired jounin grabbed her wrist roughly and leapt to the trees. Adrenaline pumped in her veins and her heart nearly skipped two beats when she heard shouting from behind.

A shout was heard: "They're over there!" It was followed by a rain of kunai, but the duo dodged them successfully. Sakura felt herself being dragged through the air and was roughly pushed against a tree when they landed on a thick branch.

She tried to straighten out her breathing pattern; her ribs were on fire—each breath was like a knife prodding against her side. Sakura turned her gaze to Kakashi, who was peering around the thick, wide tree trunk.

_Twak._

Their heads shot up; a kunai with an exploding note attached to it had found itself embedded to the tree they were resting on.

"Damn!" Acting unconsciously, Sakura pushed Kakashi off the tree branch. She pushed herself off the branch and instantly felt the explosion pressing against her back; she crashed onto one of her limbs near the forest floor. Groaning, Sakura struggled to get up; her arm had acquired a large amount of splinters that made her cringe.

Far off on the other side of the tree's remains, a black eye glared out from a bush, twigs stuck to a patch of silvery hair. Kakashi frowned; how the hell did they catch up to them so fast? He didn't have time to ponder on that though, three shinobi landed on a tree branch above him, each with a sinister smirk on their faces. Kakashi noted they had the Iwa symbol on their hiate-ate, and all had a single horizontal slash through it.

_Nuke-nin! _

"Ah, so here's White Fang's brat!"

* * *

Sakura backed away from the advancing Iwa nuke-nin, until she felt her back bump against the thick surface of the tree. Her right arm, covered with tree splinters, wasn't able to grip her kunai properly; it kept slipping from her grasp. 

_Something must have happened to my arm in that crash…_the black haired acting chuunin thought, and quickly went through a mental list of what jutsu she knew. Well, as fast as she could, her mind couldn't work like it used to in normal situations, terror gripped her tightly.

"A little helpless kunoichi? What kind of ninja are you?" The nuke nin muttered, before another one of his comrades snarled, "Hurry up, Ryo, and deal with that girl. We're here for White Fang's brat!"

_Kakashi? They're here for Kakashi?_

Ryo, the nuke nin who had Sakura trapped, smirked. "Well, I should keep you…and have my fun after this,"

Sakura frantically used the first jutsu that came in her mind, just as Ryo was going to use a kunai with a clear liquid substance smeared on it, to stab her. Seconds later, Sakura was perched on a different tree limb, sounds of the nuke-nin swearing violently was heard.

"Damned Kawarimi!"

Grinning, she mentally praised herself for just freezing up slightly, and turned around. Only to find her face to face with another nuke-nin, one that didn't look amused.

* * *

Just as Kakashi dispatched another nuke-nin, he felt his Sharingan eye sting in pain. Ignoring it, Kakashi calculated his surroundings, only two more to finish off…but judging from their bulk, he could tell the next two weren't pushovers. Unlike his father, who excelled in both stealth and strength, only stealth suited Kakashi's lean structure. 

Eying the nuke-nin's fat, chubby, but muscular arms, Kakashi couldn't help but think '_One punch from that would cripple me instantly.'_

Both nuke-nin charged. While Kakashi could keep up with the speed of their blows, each hit was taking its toll on his arm muscle. Leaping backwards, Kakashi pulled up his hiate-ate and grimaced. He blinked a few times, checking if the Sharingan was working. Fingering his kodachi, Kakashi charged back into the fray.

* * *

Sakura felt herself collide against another tree again, her whole body screamed in protest as she quite shakily prop herself up. 

_I'm no match for them...but at least I'm faring better than before…_

The black haired girl shook her head slightly as a distant memory of herself crying as Naruto, Sasuke saved her sprang up in her mind…

"What do you want…with Kakashi?" Sakura whispered, as the nuke-nin leaned forward with a kunai. He frowned, before smiling, grabbing her neck roughly. He pressed the bloody kunai against the pale, albeit dirty from sweat and grime, exposed neck.

"We're here for revenge, for what his father had done to us…" The nuke-nin snarled, "Since that bastard's dead, why not take our revenge out on his brat?"

Mint eyes widened, and before the nuke-nin could end Sakura's life, the trees behind them went up in flames.

"The fuck-?"

Sakura saw there was a sudden movement in the air, and the nuke-nin didn't say anything more, his neck was swiped, and made a gurgling sound as he dropped to the ground, blood gushing out of his neck.

Kakashi suddenly appeared by Sakura's side, making her jump, holding the bloody kodachi in his shaking hands. His lean frame was riddled with cuts and blood, his own or the enemy's, Sakura didn't really want to know.

"Kakashi?" The kunoichi tentatively probed, and let out a small squeak when her companion collapsed against her shoulder.

His breaths came out in short, pained gasps, "I refrained from using Chidori…but the Sharingan took out a huge chunk of my chakra." Kakashi took a deep shaking breath, and seemed to regain control of his composure. His single eye fixed with emerald ones, "We have to get out of here, now."

Frowning, Sakura began to protest, "But your injuries-"

"They can wait, there're another two nuke-nins I didn't dispose of." Sending a wary glance around them, he quickly added, "They didn't join the attack, so they're in full health while I'm already near-depleted of chakra. We wouldn't stand a chance."

Sakura nodded, as she got up, only to realize her ankle was bruised badly. It had turned a nasty purple, and had swelled to point it was as big as her fist. Tears sprang into her eyes, no matter how hard she tried to contain them.

_Even now, I'm still weak…_

"Get on my back." Kakashi instructed suddenly, already sliding his kodachi into its sheath. Noticing the lack of his bag, Sakura chalked it up to-he must have lost it in the battle. Leaning against him, Sakura did what she was told.

Leaping up to the trees that hadn't been burnt down by the Katon jutsu, Kakashi quickly disappeared from the area.

As he leaped from tree to tree, Sakura whispered softly, "Sorry…" Kakashi didn't reply, or make any acknowledgement that he heard.

It was about twenty minutes later, Sakura didn't know, that she heard him say, "It's alright."

* * *

They were nearing Konoha, Kakashi had said moments before, when Sakura realized something warm and wet seeping into her red shirt. Looking down, she realized it had already seeped into her khaki shorts. 

"Kakashi!" She whispered frantically, but he made no signs of stopping. Frowning, Sakura pinched him hard on the shoulder, making him tilt his head slightly. He seemed to be scowling.

"What?"

"Stop!" Sakura ordered, ignoring the put off look on his face, "You're bleeding!"

Kakashi continued his pace, and looked away. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not!" And pinched him again.

"Stop that." Another pinch.

"Why are you being so stubborn? It's your life we're talking about here! I'm not going to stop until you stop!"

Giving an exasperated sigh, he spoke, "Fine."

They stopped at a tree, with Kakashi sitting against it, and Sakura knelt beside him, digging in her pack.

"The medicine's enough," She muttered, as she applied it to a rectangle sized pad, before pressing against Kakashi's worse injury, a slash to his torso, he winced slightly. After that, Sakura held up her roll of bandage, "But I don't think this is enough to wrap around your torso."

Kakashi said nothing, continuing to hold up his bloody shirt. The two stared at each other, before Sakura spoke again, "Do you have a basic medic-kit on you?"

He remained silent, before using his free, the least injured hand, to dig into the left bag around his hip, and brought out a small, very familiar packet.

"That-that's Rin's!" Sakura gasped, noting it hadn't been used before.

"Use it." Kakashi spoke, his voice emotionless, which made the acting-chuunin flinch.

"But it's Rin's…"

"What use would it be, if I didn't use it?"

Sighing, Sakura gave in. It was probably Kakashi's last or one of the few reminders of his female teammate, she didn't really want to use it. But then again, Kakashi did make a point.

Grasping the roll, her injured right arm kept on shaking, as Sakura began to bandage Kakashi's injury. Frustration formed a knot in her stomach, as she bit her tongue, a habit whenever she was irritated.

Just when Sakura felt she would bite her tongue off, Kakashi lifted his left hand, and held onto her injured arm, supporting it.

Sakura tried to ignore the lazy, yet calm look in that dark brown eye.

* * *

After Sakura applied medicine to her own swelled ankle, they resumed their steady pace to Konoha. Kakashi had commented they were almost there. 

"Do you think," Sakura began, "They're still after you?"

Kakashi remained silent, before whispering, "I'm-" He didn't say anything, the words seemed to have stuck in his throat. Landing on a tree branch, Kakashi whirled around, a kunai in his hands to deflect one that was whizzing its way to them.

"We rested too long." He said, with a tone in his voice made Sakura think he was commenting the weather. Though Sakura mentally groaned, _I jinxed it!_

But as Sakura caught Kakashi's glance that he threw over his shoulder, she saw a slightly panicked look in his eye. His injured torso wasn't fully healed, Sakura could only do basic medical treatment. (Even though she read Rin's medical journals, Sakura was still wary of actually practicing it, after all, there was a warning on the front page in bold letters; there must be a supervisor when one is practicing.)

The nuke-nin that was trailing them were uninjured, in full health, though a bit tired from pursuing them. Engaging them in hand-to-hand combat was suicide.

"They're mad." Kakashi's voice brought Sakura out of her thoughts, "We're this near…yet they're still following us."

"They want revenge." She whispered, as the silver haired head tilted his head slightly, Kakashi's lone eye staring at her. "Your father…"

Saying nothing, Kakashi looked away, causing Sakura to bit her lower lip. But in turn, Kakashi's speed picked up, he breathed in short, pained breaths.

"We got you now!" Sakura turned her head in surprise, and saw a crazy gleam in their pursuer's eyes. The tree they had landed on suddenly rocked, causing Kakashi to wobble on one foot, but used chakra to stick to the branch. The tree rocked again, Sakura felt her right arm slipping, and then promptly slipped off her silver haired companion's back…

"Sachiko!"

"**Doton: Doryuuheki no jutsu!"**

And everything went black.

* * *

A/N: It's a cliffy! (Gets shot) Sorry for the…very late-ish chapter. I was brain dead, had no inspiration whatsoever...until today, I felt as if I had woken up the first time, my brain felt so light, and the next thing I knew, I had typed five pages in an hour. o.o; 

Four chapters to go? (I'M GOING TO FRIGGING JAPAN NEXT WEEK! YAY!)

**Doton: Doryuuheki** A Doton (earth type) Ninjutsu technique where the ninja "vomits" a wave of mud, which shoots out of their mouth and assumes the form of a solid wall in front of them, sturdy enough to dam a river of water.


	18. Aftermath Arc: Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Never have, and never will.

Warnings: Swearing..

* * *

Rewind

Chapter 17

Sakura shifted painfully, groaning as she opened her eyes. Her fingers gripped the satin bed sheets, staring at the white ceiling in confusion. All she remembered was someone shouting out her name, and then the ground around her seemed to shake and then…

She closed her eyes, willing herself to remember. Nothing came to her, any lucid memories of what landed her into the hospital. Except for voices…very familiar voices….

"_Get on my back."_

"_Sorry…"_

"…_It's alright."_

"_They want revenge..." _

"_Sachiko!"_

"Kakashi!" Sakura breathed in realization, and bolted upright, immediately regretting it. As she winced, she looked around the room. The room was a pale white, her clothes folded neatly on a wooden chair over at the corner, a dark green curtain obscuring her view of the other side. And beside the window, Sakura noticed it was around noon, sat an asleep Yondaime on a chair, drool collecting at the side of his mouth.

"Hokage-sama!" The black haired kunoichi hissed frantically, trying to bring up an arm to shake him, only to find that it felt too heavy to lift. But her words alone awoke the Hokage in slumber.

Yondaime snorted, opening his eyes and muttered incoherently, before becoming aware that his student was wide awake. "What? Oh! Sak-er-Sachiko-chan! You're awake! Do you feel fine? Are you alright?"

Sakura's lips twitched into a small smile as the Fourth Hokage bombarded her with questions, the blond man had always been overly-protective with his students, and became even more so after Obito's and Rin's deaths on missions. Missions he had sent them out on.

Arashi seemed to have the same thoughts, for he slumped into his seat, head in his hands.

"I feel like I'm sending all of you to your deaths…Every time a team comes back from a mission, I always dreaded to hear the casualties." He spoke softly, to himself mostly, as he stared blankly at the tiled floor.

An uncomfortable silence fell over them, Sakura turned away, as Arashi chose to stare out the window.

"You were out for three days," The Hokage spoke, breaking the stillness. "And missed Tsunade-hime and her newly acquired apprentice's leave."

"What!" Sakura did not even get to say good-bye!

Arashi continued, "But you and Kakashi should be grateful, it was Tsunade-hime who healed most of your wounds." He looked thoughtful for a moment, before adding, "I managed to persuade her into doing so."

Sakura had never known why the Slug Sannin had left the village back in the present, but refrained from asking. The Hokage seemed to be lost his memories of long ago.

"And what about Kakashi?"

Arashi seemed to be amused by this, a wry smile tugged his lips. "He escaped the hospital a day after he was admitted." He nodded at the curtain, "The bed on the other side was his."

Kakashi the escaping hospital patient? _So his hatred of hospitals spawned in his youth….?_

"The enemy was taken care of," Arashi said. "They were in blind rage, after seeking both of you out in the neighboring village during your mission."

Sakura frowned, and before she could ask for more details, an unearthly sound disturbed the place.

"Arashi!" A female shriek resounded in the halls, startling the two, and making said man very, very pale.

"Damn, that's my wife." Arashi looked around the small room, as he hastily explained, "She's not like that when she's not mad, I'm afraid. Her voice, I mean. And with her temperament during pregnancy…" He trailed off, and shuddered visibly.

Sakura stared at the Fourth Hokage rumbling about; near the line of breaking down from a nervous breakdown. About his own wife no less!

_She's got him whipped._

Arashi opened the window, gave a curt nod to Sakura, and promptly leapt out.

"Get well soon!"

The door suddenly burst open, and Arashi's wife stared into the room, "Have you seen Arashi? Sachiko-chan?"

"Er…no, I believe I haven't." Sakura managed, good thing the scene Arashi just made had rendered her speechless. She wouldn't have lied through her teeth.

Arashi's wife scowled, marring her pretty features. "Once I get my hands on him…" She then waddled away, not bothering to close the door in her wake.

* * *

The next few weeks was spent in silence, as Sakura realized most of the jounins and chuunins she actually knew (which mostly summed up to be her future jounin teachers.), were sent away on missions. The drop in manpower after the war had affected the village so, and even the younger ones, specifically the genin teams were also sent out on more difficult missions.

She also had bouts of memory lapse and nausea. Sakura was almost bodily dragged to the hospital when Kurenai found out. Although, she managed to convince her she was only caught a mild cold. (But that certainly didn't explain why she spaced out during training session, resulting her nearly being burned to crisp by a well aimed Katon jutsu.)

Another startling revolution was revealed to her when she met Genma by chance in the markets. His head was heavily bandaged, Sakura noticed. It must have been a nasty mission.

"Have you heard about Kakashi?" The injured brunette asked, the familiar senbon chewed between his teeth.

Sakura was confused, "About what?"

It was Genma's turn to be confused, "He hasn't told you yet? He's considering the offer to join ANBU."

Startled, Sakura spoke, "Oh. I…I thought he'd join the moment he was asked."

"That's what I thought too," Genma mused, "He certainly surprised us when he said he'd think about it."

"Why?"

A sly smirk twitched to his lips, "We think you're the reason." Sakura's eyebrows shot to her hairline. Genma seemed proud of himself, before mock saluting her and sauntered off.

Sakura snapped out her shock, and glared after the retreating back, slightly put off at the display. _Someone seems to be in a good mood. _

By the next day, Sakura was summoned to the Hokage office. She quirked an eyebrow when she saw Genma and Raido, both used to be on the same genin and chuunin team. Genma gave a half-hearted grin, and Sakura had a sinking feeling that this mission wasn't going to be what she made it out to be.

* * *

The mission ended rather well, Sakura mused. All they had to do was to dispatch the beginnings of a small mafia organization in a village near the Iwa border. Well, apart from the time when Genma was startled off his spot on a thick tree branch, while they were spying by Raido. He seemed amused by his odd sense of humor.

_Boys._Sakura sighed in her mind.

But the mission had lasted a week, and Sakura was well prepared to sink into a tub of warm water….

As they were nearing Konoha Forest, Raido stopped abruptly. Genma who had been following from behind crashed into him, and let out a line of sulfurous curses.

"What the fuck?" The brunette swore, earning a glare from Sakura, and a snort from Raido.

"There's a high density of chakra over in that direction." Raido explained, his sense of chakra signatures better than the other two in his team. He nodded towards their right, with a thoughtful frown on his face. "It…feels evil, in a way." Raido shook his head, "I can't explain that feeling."

Color drained from Sakura's face the moment she heard the description of the chakra signature.

_Could it be…?_

Genma noticed this, and nudged his teammate, "Sachiko?"

Sakura rounded on him, her bright emerald eyes shone almost insanely in her panic.

"The date!"

"Er…what? I didn't ask you on a date..."

"No!" Sakura exclaimed, exasperated, "What's the date of today?"

Raido, who had been silently watching at the side, cut in, "October fifth, why?"

The last portion of Raido's question went unheard, for Sakura already shot of towards the village at neckbreaking speed.

"Wait, Sachiko!"

Nevertheless, she didn't wait.

* * *

The doors to Yondaime's office burst open, the two chuunin guards on post trying to hold back an enraged Sakura.

Arashi looked unperturbed, raising a blond eyebrow at her, and waved down the guards.

"Leave."

The guards did so.

Sakura stalked to the wooden desk and slammed her fists onto the surface. "Hokage-_sama!_You sent me on that week-long mission on purpose!" She pointed an accusing finger into Arashi's face, "You _knew! You knew what's going to happen!" _

"I certainly did not." Arashi retorted, "But I had my suspicions. They were raised when I received news of several burnt down villages caused by unknown reasons. And of high level chakra signatures appearing in those areas. " He added as an afterthought, "But you did return much earlier than I expected."

Sakura spluttered.

Arashi stared.

The doors burst open again, startling the two out of their staring contest. An awful, putrid stench filled the room almost at once, making Sakura gag and cover the lower parts of her face. Arashi frowned, but did nothing.

A young chuunin, no older than Sakura, stumbled in, half burnt. The right part of his body was so charred, Sakura was surprised to even see him standing.

A hiss was heard from behind her, "Cursed fire!"

"Hokage-sama!" The chuunin rasped, "Kyuubi no Yoko! It's heading towards Konoha!"

He promptly collapsed afterwards, and ceased to move.

Arashi narrowed his clear, sky blue eyes, and barked to his secretary who was standing pale as a ghost at the entrance. "Call the Elders! We're holding an emergency meeting! Get medic-nins here right now!"

Sakura stood still, watching the deceased chuunin on the ground, and continued to do so, even after the body was carried away, even after the Fourth Hokage placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder before leaving to attend the meeting.

_It's finally happening._

Moments later, fear settled in the pits of her stomach.

* * *

A/N: I apologize for not updating. Writing had been the last thing on my mind throughout the whole semester, for I was trying to get first place in 10th grade. (Overall Average for the First Semester I mean.) I got second place. Blergh.

Never mind, this chapter's not exactly up to my usual standards, but it's better than nothing….right?

(Gets shot)

(This is the second to the last chapter, and the next chapter…I assure you, it'll hit 10 pages. I hope.)


	19. Aftermath Arc: Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto. Except for some characters not mentioned in the manga/anime.

* * *

Rewind Chapter 18: Calm Before The Storm

_It's finally happening._

The Yondaime took immediate action, commanding all ninjas who were in combat condition to be in standard uniform up until he withdrew the order. The Elder Council also passed the agreement for all the civilians to temporarily move into the shelters inside the Hokage Mountain. However, as there were too many villagers, the elderly and young went first, and civilians who could fight voluntarily joined the ranks.

Sakura herself was placed to a role near Arashi's side, who was extremely cautious of the chance that he might lose another student.

The first two days passed in peace, and just when everybody thought Kyuubi had taken another route, disaster struck on the third day.

A large chakra blast surged through the walls of Konoha, knocking the patrolling guards off their feet, and many others soon followed. Sakura, who had been in the Hokage's office when it happened, rushed out only to find herself forcedly pushed into the wooden wall. The hairs on her neck stood straight up, following goose bumps appearing on her arms.

"What's going on?" One of the many knocked over shinobi cried out from the ground, and a murmur of questions escalated to screams of horror, which came from the lower floors of the Hokage Tower.

Arashi pushed the wooden door open, and many of the shinobi finally saw their leader for the first time since the initial sighting of Kyuubi. His usual bright cerulean eyes were bloodshot, and faint dark bags hung under them, implying that he hadn't had a decent night since.

"I want everyone to remain calm," The Yondaime spoke, and voices ceased to speak. "We will be experiencing similar chakra blasts in the following days, and it might increase in energy. But, I need everyone to remain in their standard formation." Arashi fixed his eyes on a group of jounins, who were caught slacking off a day ago, "There will be no reports of slacking off, and if I happen to receive one. Well, let's say that person will end up on a sabbatical."

The older, seasoned shinobi knew being on sabbatical during emergency situations normally meant that you aren't suited for the job, and might end up getting downgraded, or having your ninja rank detained.

And so, the whole corridor remained silent.

"Yondaime-sama's been working all day and night." Sakura whispered softly, holding her cup of tea as she and the Sandaime sat in a room that connected with the Hokage office. Across from their spot, a group of ninja huddled around a table, muttering softly and pointing at papers, gesturing here and there.

"They're trying to figure out a way to contain the Kyuubi." Sandaime replied. He too, was holding a paper with unreadable scribbles in the margins.

"Why not kill it?"

"It's impossible to kill a god like Kyuubi." The Third Hokage spoke, eyeing Sakura, "It would mean thousands of sacrifices. The best way Arashi came up with is to…"

"Is to what?" Sakura still asked, fully knowing the answer.

The Sandaime didn't continue, and Sakura didn't persist.

* * *

Day 3-Night

"God damnit!"

Sakura winced as a vanilla colored folder flew across the office, and landed on the wooden floor with an inaudible plop, joining the slowly growing pile of scattered papers.

Arashi had suddenly stood up from his seat, his normally warm sky blue eyes blazing with suppressed rage. He glowered at the pile of papers, as if willing it to burst up into flames.

Sakura picked up the new addition to the pile and quickly read it, "Seals, Hokage-sama?"

"**Don't. Call. Me. That." **The Yondaime bit out before sighing, and slumping back into his seat, "And yes, those are blueprints for seals."

Nodding, Sakura walked over to one of the chairs and sat down, "What did the book say?"

Arashi paused, his eyes darting to the book propped before him. "A human sacrifice, and….it must be sealed into a human baby who has only been born for two hours."

"That's quite a lot of requirements."

"Yes, but-" The Hokage glanced at the girl, "I can't do that. A human baby! I…" He sighed, and buried his face in his palms. "I can't burden anyone with that kind of fate."

It was silent after Arashi's confession, and Sandaime, who had been listening from the other room, pouring over different books on sealing, walked in.

"Have you found any other methods?"

Arashi shook his head mutely, and looked up. "But if we tried harder, maybe we could find another-"

"We don't have enough time, Arashi." Sandaime cut in, his voice hard. "The Council is pressing for details, and they're demanding a meeting as soon as possible."

The Yondaime remained silent, as the other two occupants stared, watching the Hokage's inner struggle.

Just when Sandaime turned, Arashi spoke again.

"Bring the Sealers in."

* * *

Day 4

The Yondaime looked around the Council table, his blue eyes emotionless. The Elders stared back at their leader, eyes too emotionless.

"So, Hokage-sama." Spoke one of the Elders, curling his mustache as he spoke. "How is your research coming along? Fine, I presume?"

Sakura, who was standing behind Yondaime's chair, tried to make her face seem impassive. It was rather hard, as the Elder continued to curl his mustache even after speaking. She refrained from staring at that particular Elder.

"Your presumption is correct." Arashi said, "The Seal that will save Konoha," He paused, for effect Sakura thought, "Is finished."

The meeting room was silent, and Sakura thought she was going to suffocate by the tension.

"And this seal, are there any requirements for this seal to work?" Hyuuga Hisashi inquired from his seat across from the mustache curler.

Arashi nodded, "There is. It will require a human sacrifice, and a human baby born within two hours for the sealing to work."

Uproar broke out.

"That's preposterous!"

"What are you thinking!"

The increasing volume of enraged shouts drowned out any words Arashi might have heard.

"SILENCE!" Arashi bellowed, and the room indeed, became silent once more. "We do not have time left, all the other methods require much," He paused, looking around the table, "Much more gruesome requirements."

"And who will be the human sacrifice?" Uchiha Fugaku asked.

Arashi stared at the Uchiha leader, "Me." He held up a hand, quelling another wave of chaos.

"The baby, then?" An Elder at the far end of the table asked.

"I have already personally taken care of that." Quickly moving onto a different subject, Arashi asked Uchiha Fugaku, "Are the defense troops stationed yet?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. The First Division are already stationed at checkpoint 5. But from what I've concluded from the reports sent by the commander there, the Kyuubi may breach the first line by tonight."

Collective murmurs filled the room, as Arashi frowned shortly, "And the other divisions?"

"The Second was sent out this morning, they will be arriving at checkpoint 4 by evening. The Third and Fourth will be sent out tonight."

Sakura leaned over to Sandaime, "Checkpoints?"

"Points where division troops are placed. Checkpoint 1 is the furthest from Konoha, and checkpoint 5 is the closest."

"Oh."

"And how are the refugee shelters holding up?"

"They're holding finely, but I'm not sure if the buildings will stand the chakra waves as Kyuubi closes in."

Nodding, Arashi turned to the other council elders, and promptly changed the topic into something more pressing…

* * *

The meeting lasted for only an hour.

But it felt like an eternity to Sakura.

By the time the meeting adjourned, it was already evening outside. The sun was setting as Yondaime stood by the large window of his office, staring outside.

"Sakura,"

"Yes, Arashi-sensei?"

Blue eyes fixed onto her person, making Sakura cringe slightly. The eyes weren't warm, like the ones she was used to seeing. It meant what the Yondaime was going to say next was important.

"I will not be able to live through this ordeal, that I am certain." The Yondaime inclined his head, "But, I hope you, Kakashi, and Sandaime will do your best to look after my child."

Frowning, Sakura realized that she didn't really know who Arashi was going to use as the human container. But at that very moment, she understood.

"It can't be…Sensei, you can't be serious about this!"

Arashi lowered his eyes, "Yes, I am. I can't force this kind of imprisonment upon another child, but I know my own child will able to handle it. I have faith in him."

Tears sprang to Sakura's eyes, and she did with all her might to hold them in. A lone tear slid down her cheek, and Sakura turned her head away so that Arashi didn't see. The Yondaime, however did see, and moved around the office desk to place a reassuring hand on his student's shoulder.

"It's okay to cry once in a while. Emotions are what make us human, unlike what they say in the ANBU corps. Honestly, I have no idea what they're drilling into our agents…" Arashi flashed a small smile, making Sakura realize he was trying to lift the mood, even if it was a weak attempt.

Playing along, knowing being depressed over something that couldn't be undone wouldn't help, Sakura smiled back.

* * *

Day Five (Early Morning)

The evacuation was still in steady progress, much to Sakura's shock. As she went through Arashi's files for the plans that were finished or still in progress, she found out that Konoha was much bigger than she previously thought.

"Why do you think I made the plans in advance?" Arashi had remarked dryly, as he went over his notes and blueprints for the seal.

Annoyed, Sakura had plowed on, "But at this rate, we wouldn't be able to evacuate all of the villagers!"

The sad expression on her mentor's face told her that he already expected that outcome.

Sakura now sat in the empty apartment that she and Kakashi shared. It was morning, although it was still dark outside.

_October Tenth. The day Kyuubi finally arrives. The day Yondaime dies, and the day when Naruto's born._

The similarity between Naruto and Yondaime was obvious, but Sakura hadn't been able to make the connection until now. Arashi's family name obviously wasn't 'Uzumaki', that she was sure of.

_His mother's, then? _

But, if Naruto was really Kyuubi's container, then that would solve all the questions that came up when Sakura was younger. Especially when she saw all the adults glaring at the lone blond boy, beaten for no reason, constantly picked on by the teachers at the academy…

Guilt clawed at Sakura's heart, she had blindly listened to her parents to avoid Naruto like the plague, treated him badly as a teammate, and even though her behavior towards him had improved, it didn't stop Sakura from feeling.

Prying her thoughts away from the future, Sakura focused on the present. Or the past. Whatever it was.

Kakashi.

He was still away on his mission, and Sakura had a suspicious feeling that Arashi sent him away on purpose.

Lying down onto the couch, using the armrest as a pillow, Sakura stared at the ceiling. If she were to go back to her own time, how was she supposed to revert to the old her? Kakashi and she had developed a tentative friendship during her stay in the past. Sakura knew of his darkest fears, something that she doubted the others in his generation, friends or not, knew of.

Kakashi in turn, only knew her as Sachiko, the girl who suddenly dropped from the sky according to the deceased Obito.

Would he still remember her?

_Kakashi-sensei will. But he'll only remember me as Sachiko. Not Sakura._

Frowning, Sakura realized that revelation depressed her, but she didn't understand why. Deciding not to pursue the thought, she flipped to her side and tried to get some decent sleep.

But Sakura didn't manage to sleep for a few hours before Konoha's greatest danger reared its ugly head…

* * *

Kakashi led his team through the woods, leaping from tree to tree at a steady pace. The mission had been long and collecting information on the underground organization bent on overthrowing the government in that small country had been tedious work. But, thankfully, nobody on his team died.

"Captain!" The silver-haired ninja tilted his head slightly to glance at his teammate, codename 'Bear'.

"What?"

"There's a chakra-signature coming from north-west. It's something big, and…" The shinobi stopped at mid-speech, because he suddenly slipped of the branch he was supposed to step on. 'Racoon', another shinobi leapt off the branch onto the forest floor to check on 'Bear'. The rest of the team quickly followed.

"'Bear', you alright?" Kakashi asked, as the winded ANBU managed a nod. 'Bear' was adept at targeting chakra signatures, and was more sensitive to them than anyone else on Kakashi's team.

"It's big, and it's evil." 'Bear' whispered, as 'Racoon' helped the shaking man to his feet. The other teammates shared concerned glances from behind their porcelain masks.

"And it's heading towards Konoha."

* * *

A/N: A few paragraphs shy from ten pages! I'm truly sorry for the long wait, even though I had this chapter half typed out a month ago. I should have finished it then, but I had more pressing issues to deal it at that time. (My thesis report, for instance.) I heard my oral part was docked points because I couldn't speak clearly. It's not my damned fault I have a big tongue!

The Yondaime-Sakura interaction in this chapter will lead to nothing. I'm just laying down the foundation for the sequel. If there's some facts I've missed out, or glaringly obvious plot holes that I didn't notice, please mention it in your review, cause I've done my best going back to re-read the earlier chapters. Honestly, I should have made an outline.

And I'm still not fully satisfied with my chapters. The words are not coming to me! (wail)


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